International Climate Action

Anna McMorrin Excerpts

Thursday 26th September 2019 Commons Chamber

[Andrea Leadsom]

My hon. Friend is exactly right. We are all delighted that COP 26 will be held in Glasgow. We shall all be there. It will be a great opportunity to visit Scotland as part of a stronger United Kingdom post Brexit. We all very much look forward to it. My hon. Friend is exactly right to say that the Ayrton fund offers a fantastic opportunity to contribute to low-carbon technologies for use in developing economies.

[Anna McMorrin (Cardiff North) (Lab)]

May I begin by saying that it is good to see the Secretary of State in her place and to be able to question the Government on climate change, which we did not think we would have the opportunity to do? Data from Antarctica suggests the onset of irreversible ice sheet instability, which would result in sea levels rising by several metres. This was not the future my father envisaged for his children when he spent years working in Antarctica more than 40 years ago, and it is not what I want for my children either. Why are the Government so reluctant to show leadership in setting hard and fast targets, particularly on the tried and tested technologies of onshore wind and solar?

[Andrea Leadsom]

I thank the hon. Lady for her collegiate approach; I think we should attempt to continue in that vein. She will know that we have more than 10 GW of onshore wind capacity in the UK. No doubt she knows also that just a couple of weeks ago we had a successful round of contracts for difference for offshore wind, showing costs of sub-£40 per MWh, which is extraordinary; when I was an Energy Minister only a few years ago, the cost of CfDs then was about £150 per MWh. The UK is leading the world. We should be proud of that. Of course, we will continue to look at all renewable technologies.