Cleaner Energy Technologies

Baroness Jones of Whitchurch Excerpts

Tuesday 14th March 2023 Lords Chamber

[Lord Callanan (Con)]

The noble Lord had two questions there. I completely agree with him about fusion. We need to support it, but of course it is at a very early stage. It has great potential, but it seems to have had great potential for many years now. The noble Lord’s other point on the use of critical minerals is important, of course, which is why we have a critical minerals strategy. There are also lots of exciting new battery technologies which might perhaps not need so much lithium—so the Chinese need to be careful that they are not investing in the wrong technologies.

[Baroness Jones of Whitchurch (Lab)]

Has the Minister seen the recent report from the Climate Change Committee, which says:

“A reliable, secure and decarbonised power system by 2035 is possible—but not at this pace of delivery”?


Indeed, it went on to say that there had been a lost year in which politicians had not acted with the necessary determination and delivery. Can the Minister reassure the House that the Government are on target to meet the targets that have been set? The committee really does not think that they are.

[Lord Callanan (Con)]

Well, if the noble Baroness is referring to the legally binding carbon budgets, of course by their very nature they are legal targets and we have to meet them. We have met all our carbon budgets so far—in fact, we have exceeded them—but of course as we go on it gets more difficult. We have lots of ambitious policies to continue rolling out renewables and other carbon-reduction technologies, but we will respond to the CCC report in due course.