1 Lord Sharkey debates involving the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero

Carbon Budgets: Methane Flaring

Lord Sharkey Excerpts
Thursday 9th March 2023

(1 year, 9 months ago)

Lords Chamber
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Lord Callanan Portrait Lord Callanan (Con)
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The noble Baroness asked a number of questions there. We can argue about the figures but we can all agree that it is something that we want to eliminate as quickly as possible. We have a target to get rid of all flaring emissions by 2030, as I mentioned in earlier answers, but let us not get this out of proportion. These are 1.6% of our emissions, which we should eliminate as quickly as possible, but, as the noble Baroness mentioned, the bigger sectors to tackle are agriculture and waste, as other noble Lords have mentioned.

Lord Sharkey Portrait Lord Sharkey (LD)
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My Lords, in the last four months the sky over Hampshire and the Isle of Wight has been lit up twice by huge emergency flaring from the Fawley refinery. What release of methane was involved in these incidents? What steps are being taken to prevent more such episodes?

Lord Callanan Portrait Lord Callanan (Con)
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I thank the noble Lord for that question. I am not familiar with that incident, but I will speak to officials when I get back to the department.