Atmospheric Carbon

Debate between Baroness Verma and Lord May of Oxford

Tuesday 11th June 2013 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Verma]

My Lords, the noble Lord has made an important point; it is one that has a great deal of technical and scientific evidence behind it. If the noble Lord will allow me, I will give a more detailed answer in writing and I will place a copy of that response in the Library.

[Lord May of Oxford]

I remind the noble Baroness that we are on target, but only by virtue of the recession. As I have rather unkindly remarked on a previous occasion, I trust that this is not our plan for remaining on target to 2050, although sometimes I wonder as I look at the current happenings.

[Baroness Verma]

My Lords, I reassure the noble Lord that it is not just because of the recession. We are, through the Energy Bill, putting in place a number of measures to ensure that we will be working towards reducing carbon emissions.

Arctic Report Card

Debate between Baroness Verma and Lord May of Oxford

Monday 28th January 2013 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Verma]

Yes, my Lords; the noble Lord is right that the United States has reduced its carbon emissions and increased its production of shale gas. However, this country takes the view that we need to ensure that our energy supplies are a mix of renewables and traditional fossil-fuel based. Therefore, although we are looking at shale gas, it will be part of a mix of energy rather than our having a dependency on it.

[Lord May of Oxford]

My Lords, is the Minister aware that the cost of the actions that we should be energetically taking against climate change—the need for which is underlined by the faster than previously expected melting of Arctic ice—is significantly smaller than the discounted present value of the much more difficult actions that we will be faced with in future if we do not act? I declare an interest as a member of the Committee on Climate Change.

[Baroness Verma]

The noble Lord is of course right that we need to take action. I am pleased to say that this Government are taking action and working very hard with all partner countries to ensure that this global issue is tackled with a global response.

Energy: Shale Gas

Debate between Baroness Verma and Lord May of Oxford

Wednesday 17th October 2012 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Verma]

My noble friend is of course right that the Government are very alert to the possibilities for boosting growth and employment in Lancashire and across the country. If shale gas does prove to be commercially viable, there is every reason to suppose that it will be positive for the economy and employment. However, the industry is at a very early stage of development and we need to make sure that all our commitments to ensuring that it is safe and secure to extract are formally looked at.

[Lord May of Oxford]

The Government are currently on course to fulfil their legally binding commitments under the Climate Change Act—only, however, by virtue of the recession. A second “dash for gas” rather than a speeding up of our decarbonising of electricity generation is flatly inconsistent with the commitments to 2030. Am I correct in assuming that the only way to square this is to maintain the recession, and that that explains some of this?

[Baroness Verma]

No, my Lords. I think the noble Lord knows from his question that that is not the case. We need to look at a wide range of energy sources and make sure that in the long term we fulfil our commitment to the 2030 target, but also that we utilise new renewable sources .