Oral Answers to Questions

Alison Thewliss Excerpts

Wednesday 24th February 2021 Commons Chamber

[Alok Sharma]

I respectfully suggest to the hon. Lady that she look at the record of this Government in cutting emissions. We were the first major economy in the world to legislate for net zero and, of course, I hope she is pleased not just with the 10-point plan but with the very ambitious, nationally determined contribution that the Prime Minister set out last year.

[Alison Thewliss (Glasgow Central) (SNP)]

What recent assessment he has made of the UK’s progress on becoming a global leader on tackling climate change in preparation for COP26.

[The Minister for Business, Energy and Clean Growth (Anne-Marie Trevelyan)]

The UK is leading from the front and has made significant commitments under all three pillars of the Paris agreement, which, as the President set out, are: mitigation, finance and adaptation and resilience. We are continuing to press for ambition internationally, and we are discussing climate action with world leaders. Our nationally determined contribution, of course, sets the highest level of emission reductions by 2030 of any major economy.

[Alison Thewliss [V]]

Angel Gurría, the outgoing secretary- general of the OECD, has urged countries to attach environmental conditions to bail-outs, to prioritise a green recovery with environmental jobs and to

“put a big fat price on carbon.”

So will the UK Government take his advice?

[Anne-Marie Trevelyan]

We are leading the way in making sure that we do that as part of our building back better and greener. I am co-chairing, with the Department for Education, a green jobs taskforce, to make sure we are able both to upskill and to train all the new skills that are going to be needed for those new industries.