The Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change (Chris Huhne)

Ministers and officials meet regularly with a range of stakeholders from the solar photovoltaic industry. Details of meetings between Department of Energy and Climate Change Ministers and external organisations are published quarterly on the DECC website. The recent consultation on feed-in tariffs for solar PV closed on 23 December 2011. More than 2,300 responses were received and are being analysed prior to the publication of a full Government response to the consultation in the coming weeks.

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The Minister of State, Department of Energy and Climate Change (Gregory Barker)

The coalition is taking action to help consumers to reduce their bills. The Department of Energy and Climate Change has launched the “check, switch, insulate to save” campaign, which was showcased in big energy week. That measure, together with the new warm home discount, the winter fuel and cold weather payments, the carbon emissions reduction target and community energy saving programmes, the Warm Front scheme and signposts on bills to the cheapest tariff information, will help hard-pressed consumers. However, the green deal will be the game-changer that the country really needs.

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Miss Anne McIntosh (Thirsk and Malton) (Con)

The green deal has just been described as the “game-changer”, but the concern being expressed by those living in Thirsk, Malton and Filey is that it will push up their household energy bills. Will the Minister follow up the suggestion put to the Prime Minister yesterday by looking favourably on schemes such as biomass, rather than unreliable wind farms, in the green energy mix?

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Caroline Dinenage (Conservative)

3. When he expects a decision to be taken on the EU target for carbon emission reductions under the second commitment period of the Kyoto protocol. ( 91728 )

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The Minister of State, Department of Energy and Climate Change (Gregory Barker)

The EU must submit a target for the second commitment period of the Kyoto protocol at the UN conference of parties at the end of the year in Qatar. There is a debate in the EU about whether to increase its 2020 emission reduction target from 20% to 30% from 1990 levels. The UK is a leading advocate of a 30% target.

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Gregory Barker

We are very active on this agenda. The Secretary of State and I firmly believe that the EU should submit a 30% target in the Kyoto protocol. We are working closely with ministerial colleagues from key member states to build support for a 30% target, directly engaging the more sceptical. At the Environment Council in March, the Secretary of State will argue strongly for approval of the EU low-carbon road map, which sets out milestones for reducing emissions through to 2050.

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The Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change (Chris Huhne)

All property types, including those belonging to charities and social enterprises, will be eligible for the green deal which begins later this year. Charities and social enterprises will be eligible for up-front support to cover improvements, which will be paid back gradually through savings on energy bills. We are also running a £10 million fund to support communities, including charities and social enterprises, in understanding their current energy use and the opportunities to reduce demand, as well as in developing renewable energy schemes locally.

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Oliver Colvile (Plymouth, Sutton and Devonport) (Con)

15. What assessment he has made of British Antarctic Survey research on the effects of historic industrialisation on global carbon dioxide levels. ( 91746 )

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The Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change (Chris Huhne)

Ice core measurements by the British Antarctic Survey reveal that over the last 800,000 years, global carbon dioxide levels varied between 180 and 300 parts per million. Those peer-reviewed results provide crucial data on past natural levels for climate science research. Observations show that global atmospheric carbon dioxide levels are currently increasing at about two parts per million per year, and are now at 391 parts per million, as a result of emissions from industrial and other human sources.

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Chris Huhne

I can certainly point to one conclusion of the research that I think is absolutely crucial: measurements of current carbon dioxide levels show that they have increased by nearly 40% since pre-industrial times, and carbon isotope information shows that this has largely been caused by the burning of fossil fuels. Drilling down into ice cores is a fascinating way of finding out what was happening in prehistory, and it thoroughly underlines the importance in the science of our addressing those issues. One thing that as politicians we cannot do is negotiate with scientific conclusions as robustly supported as these.

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Mr Jim Cunningham (Coventry South) (Lab)

17. What recent discussions he has had with the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills on growth in the renewable energy sector. ( 91748 )

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The Minister of State, Department of Energy and Climate Change (Gregory Barker)

My right hon. Friend the Secretary of State and I have regular meetings with ministerial counterparts in the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills on a variety of topics, including renewable energy issues.

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Mr Cunningham

What discussions has the Minister had with the Business Secretary regarding the 45,000 jobs that could be lost in the construction industry over the next three years and the impact that will have on green energy delivery?

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Gregory Barker

I regularly discuss renewable energy with colleagues, but we remain very optimistic about the future for British renewables. We inherited a terrible position from Labour, third from bottom of the EU table, but I am glad to say that as of December 2011 there was 11 GW of installed renewable electricity, 15.5 GW in construction and 10.5 GW in planning; and in the hon. Gentleman’s constituency this month we have seen £12 million invested in Geothermal International, alongside £2.5 billion of announced investments since April 2011. That is a very encouraging picture.

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John Thurso (Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross) (LD)

A major area of growth for the renewable energy industry will be marine energy, particularly, of course, the Pentland firth. I congratulate the Minister on the renewable energy park that he has put in the south-west and I thank him for the conversations we have had on turning the Pentland firth into a renewable energy park. Can he tell me what progress we are making?

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The Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change (Chris Huhne)

Since my Department’s last Question Time, I have attended the UN climate change conference, where the UK delegation as a whole played a key role in securing the Durban platform, a road map to a global legal agreement. DECC has published the carbon plan, which sets out how we will meet our first four carbon budgets; we have consulted on incentives for solar energy as part of our review of the feed-in tariff scheme; and our clean energy plans took an important step forward with the opening of the UK’s first carbon capture and storage plant in November last year.

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Dame Joan Ruddock (Lewisham, Deptford) (Lab)

Having been a Minister myself in the Department of Energy and Climate Change, I cannot believe that officials did not warn the Secretary of State and Ministers of the folly of setting a cut-off date before the end of the consultation period. Will he not now apologise to those whose plans have been ruined and whose jobs have been lost, and acknowledge that a review was provided for in the Labour Government’s legislation?

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