COP 28

Debate between Lord Callanan and Lord McColl of Dulwich

Wednesday 17th May 2023 Lords Chamber

[Lord Callanan (Con)]

I disagree. Graham Stuart is a very senior Minister who is committed to this agenda, and he has already taken part in a number of the ministerial negotiations. There is a cross-government group of Ministers chaired by the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster meeting to co-ordinate the Government’s response.

[Lord McColl of Dulwich (Con)]

My Lords, are the Government aware of President Macron’s recent plea for a pause in EU environmental regulations in a push to reindustrialise France? Do the Government agree that we ought to consider that, especially in view of the fact that an increasing number of countries are profoundly disturbed about the cost of trying to limit global warming?

[Lord Callanan (Con)]

I had not seen President Macron’s intervention. Happily, what France and the EU do has nothing to do with us any more. They can have their own negotiations. We are just getting on with the job.

Climate Change

Debate between Lord Callanan and Lord McColl of Dulwich

Tuesday 7th September 2021 Lords Chamber

[Lord Callanan (Con)]

Indeed. I can agree with the noble Lord on the first part of his question. It has been encouraging to see the number of major businesses that have joined us in the race to net zero. I pay tribute to the work of the CBI in helping us to do that. But we have already set a number of quite ambitious targets. We have legislated in this House for the carbon budgets, and we will produce the net zero strategy before COP, which will see further progress.

[Lord McColl of Dulwich (Con)]

My Lords, as the European continent in the Middle Ages warmed up by 1.5 degrees centigrade and then reverted to normal temperature after a century, can the Minister tell the House of two scientific facts that show that we can stop or reverse climate change?

[Lord Callanan (Con)]

The noble Lord invites me to indulge in a long debate about the validity or otherwise of the various reports and the IPCC report. Perhaps we could discuss it separately outside. However, the IPCC report was a major piece of work taking on board many of the assessments from world-leading scientists, and we would do well to take it seriously.

Construction Industry: Retention Payments

Debate between Lord Callanan and Lord McColl of Dulwich

Thursday 14th January 2021 Lords Chamber

[Lord Callanan (Con)]

I know that the noble Lord has been active for many years on this important issue. This has been a slower process than we might have liked, in part due to the complexity of the issues associated with the practice of cash retentions and the wide range of interested parties. While most in the construction industry favour or could accept change, unfortunately no consensus on a preferred solution has emerged from industry to date.

[Lord McColl of Dulwich (Con) [V]]

My Lords, what happened to the suggestion in the Murray review of 2017 that retention payments for subcontractors and vendors on major projects should be held in a designated trust account? As far as retention payments are concerned, will it help to develop the system of financial rewards for those who settle accounts earlier?

[Lord Callanan (Con)]

That is indeed one of the policy suggestions we are looking at, but given the complexity of the policy issues, it is premature to commit to the introduction of a retention deposit scheme. We will continue to seek consensus and work with industry to find a way forward.

Clean Growth Fund

Debate between Lord Callanan and Lord McColl of Dulwich

Wednesday 28th October 2020 Lords Chamber

[Lord Callanan (Con)]

That is indeed a good quote and I agree to a certain extent with my noble friend, but this is a commercial investment, run by a commercial fund manager. My noble friend will be pleased to know that the Government are playing no role in the selection of the investments. There are private sector investors alongside us and the fund manager is running the fund on a commercial basis.

[Lord McColl of Dulwich (Con) [V]]

My Lords, as we have limited funds, why do not the Government use the Clean Growth Fund in their efforts to clean up the pollution of the air and the ocean and rid us of the enormous amount of destructive plastics? As our economy is in dire straits, is it not the time for these expensive green plans to be postponed until the economy improves?

[Lord Callanan (Con)]

The noble Lord makes a good point—we should indeed seek to clean up our environment as much as possible—but, as I said, that is not the purpose of this fund, which is to invest in early-stage green technologies, where a proven funding gap has been shown to exist.

Maritime Industry

Debate between Lord Callanan and Lord McColl of Dulwich

Thursday 17th September 2020 Lords Chamber

[Lord Callanan (Con)]

The Government agree with the need to increase diversity in the maritime sector if it is to meet the challenges of the future. Of course, we need to embrace talent from everywhere. In support of this, we have been working actively with the sector to promote greater diversity. One notable success has been the Women in Maritime task force, established in 2018.

[Lord McColl of Dulwich (Con) [V]]

My Lords, could the Minister tell us how far on the research into the use of butane, methane and ammonia is? Although the use of ammonia creates zero harmful emissions, my shipping friends here in Norway tell me that using ammonia as a fuel creates a very unpleasant smell. Is that problem being addressed? Incidentally, does the Minister know that the noble Lord, Lord Mountevans, is very highly thought of in the maritime world, especially here in Norway?

[Lord Callanan (Con)]

Yes, I was aware of the high regard in which many Peers in this House, including the noble Lord, Lord Mountevans, are held in all countries, including Norway, I am sure. I agree with the noble Lord that the challenge of decarbonisation in the maritime sector is a great one and we are looking at a number of alternative fuels, one of which is ammonia.