Greenhouse Gas Emissions Trading Scheme (Amendment) (Extension to Maritime Activities) Order 2026

Debate between Lord Ashcombe and Lord Whitehead

Thursday 12th March 2026 Lords Chamber

[Lord Ashcombe (Con)]

We have a problem with the Isle of Wight. One of the vessels has done everything that it could possibly do to decarbonise. It has no option to go anywhere else because the power is not there. It is a fully hybrid boat, as the noble Lord, Lord Greenway, pointed out with a great deal more technical ability than I have. These vessels cannot go anywhere else, so this is a straight tax that will end up primarily on the residents of the Isle of Wight.

[Lord Whitehead (Lab)]

The noble Lord makes a strong point about the power supply to the Isle of Wight. This is also the case with some other ports. Other noble Lords have said this in their interventions, including the noble Lord, Lord Greenway, for whom I have a great deal of respect and admiration, through our long relationship with the Maritime and Ports Group in another place. He speaks with great authority and considerable knowledge and wisdom on this subject.

Shore power and an electrical supply to ports to enable decarbonisation to take place is a serious question. Both the port of Portsmouth and, in parallel, the port of Southampton suffer from particular cable connections from the substations in their area, which could, at a sub-national grid level, provide sufficient shore power and power for the electrical hybrid ships that may visit these ports. That can be effected by what is called a reopener of the arrangements for distributed network operations to ensure that this power can come forward at an early date. This is what Southampton has done. The power is likely to be forthcoming long before the 2037 date that the noble Lord mentioned. If Portsmouth has not done this yet, I would suggest that it does so. The power is there and readily available to get to the ports. It is a question of putting it in early, rather than later, to make sure that this transition can take place. That is part of a wider problem about grids and grid power in the country as a whole, which this Government are addressing urgently to make sure that we have the power to get ourselves across the transition in the way that we want.

Because of the time available, I will have to address some of the issues by writing to a number of Peers. In this debate, I want to emphasise that this is not a conspiracy to do anybody down or to try to isolate particular communities. Nor is it aimed at undermining the economic prosperity of the country. It is a decarbonisation measure that has to happen as part of our general decarbonisation route to net zero. It would be anomalous if the maritime sector were to be excluded from that decarbonisation route and if we were not to take measures, which I have known about for a long while, to make sure that that decarbonisation route is as effective as it can be in how it aligns with the EU ETS and eventually with the CBAM process. At present there is some problem of alignment because the EU CBAM process is proceeding earlier than the UK CBAM process. These need to be aligned in the longer term. As has been mentioned in this debate, the prize for that alignment is a substantial bonus for UK trade—£9 billion or so over a longer period. It would be remiss of this Government if they did not have that largely in view in what they are undertaking as far as this SI is concerned. Indeed, the Government do have this in view.

I can certainly say to noble Lords that the effect of this SI will be seriously reviewed in 2028. It is likely that, should everything come into proper alignment with CBAM and the EU, some of those shorter-term exemptions and changes will come jointly into alignment for the net benefit of everybody, including Northern Ireland, the Republic of Ireland and the UK. That alignment will mean a joint overall benefit all round.