G20 and COP 26 World Leaders Summit

Debate between Baroness Evans of Bowes Park and Lord St John of Bletso

Wednesday 3rd November 2021 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Evans of Bowes Park (Con)]

As I said, the G20 adopted the target for vaccinating 70% of the world’s population against Covid. I have set out the work that we are doing and the contribution we are making and I also set out the fact that we have committed £548 million to COVAX to provide vaccinations to help deliver more than 1 billion vaccines to up to 92 lower-income countries. Therefore, we are playing our part and will continue to work with partners to ensure that we meet these ambitious but correct targets.

[Lord St John of Bletso (CB)]

My Lords, I welcome the Statement and the measures taken to reduce global warming, but can the Minister elaborate on what measures have been taken to embrace more innovative technologies? While there has been much debate on measures to reduce deforestation, is she aware that algae-fuelled bioreactors can soak up 400 times more CO₂ than tropical trees?

[Baroness Evans of Bowes Park (Con)]

I have to confess that I was not aware of that, no, but I am very grateful that I am aware of it now. Certainly, the noble Lord is absolutely right that advancing technology and using technology will be some of the key things we need to do to ensure that we meet these ambitious targets. He may be interested to know that more than 40 leaders, for instance, have now joined the UK’s Glasgow Breakthroughs, which will turbocharge affordable green technologies in the most polluting sectors by 2030, including a $4 billion deal between the UEA and US, with the support of 30 others, for climate-smart agriculture and food systems, and $10 billion of funding from philanthropists and development banks to support energy access and clean energy transition in the global south. There are a lot of discussions going on within COP about how we can all come together in order to further develop and spread these technologies out, because, as he rightly says, this will be what we need in order to meet these targets.

G7 and NATO Summits

Debate between Baroness Evans of Bowes Park and Lord St John of Bletso

Thursday 17th June 2021 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Evans of Bowes Park (Con)]

The Government’s aim in inviting Australia, India, South Korea and South Africa to the G7 summit was to increase co-operation among democratic like-minded partners on global issues, reflecting our shared value of openness. We do not see this grouping of 11 democracies as fixed, limited or replacing the G7, but it was a symbol of our desire with others to strengthen like-minded international co-operation. We look forward to the US-hosted Summit for Democracy, which will take place later this year.

On my noble friend’s point about America, he is absolutely right. The original Atlantic Charter demonstrates that the UK-US relationship has been one of partnership rather than followership for decades. We look forward to that continuing.

[Lord St John of Bletso (CB) [V]]

My Lords, at a time when Africa accounts for more than 20% of the world’s population but has less than 3% of global GDP, and less than 2% of the continent is vaccinated, what reassurances can be taken from the G7 summit that more urgent focus will be given to administering the vaccine programme, addressing conflict resolution and peacekeeping, and assisting with family planning in Africa?

Covid-19 Update

Debate between Baroness Evans of Bowes Park and Lord St John of Bletso

Thursday 13th May 2021 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Evans of Bowes Park (Con)]

All I can say to the noble Baroness is that we are in discussions with the US and WTO members to facilitate increased production and supply of Covid vaccines. There are other issues—for instance, licensing agreements—which can also boost production. We are in discussions about a range of things that we hope might be able to make a difference.

[Lord St John of Bletso (CB) [V]]

My Lords, I agree that there is a persistent threat of new variants and support the necessity of Covid tests for international travellers, but the high cost of these tests has been well highlighted. What measures can the Government take to ease the financial burden on individuals and families trying to book a summer holiday after such a lengthy lockdown? Surely the Government should make all Covid tests VAT exempt.

[Baroness Evans of Bowes Park (Con)]

The noble Lord is absolutely right. We recognise that the cost of tests can be high, which is why we are currently working with the travel industry and private testing providers to see how we can further reduce the cost of travel while ensuring that it stays safe. We are also closely monitoring the performance of private test providers to ensure that they deliver a high quality of service to customers. If they do not provide an adequate service they receive a five-day warning, and are then removed from the GOV.UK list of test providers if they do not improve. So we are cognisant of this issue and working hard to ensure that travellers can get lower-cost tests so that they can go and enjoy a summer holiday if they have booked one.