Climate Change Act 2008 (International Aviation and International Shipping) Regulations 2026

Baroness Hayman Excerpts

Monday 29th June 2026 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Hayman (CB)]

My Lords, it is a pleasure to follow the noble Lord, Lord Teverson. I agree very much with the final point that he made. I find many things depressing at the moment in reactions to issues of climate change, but one of them is the lack of enthusiasm about British innovation. We can grow the green economy; we can tackle climate change; we can tackle emissions; and we have the intellectual firepower and the companies and the individuals who are interested in doing that. Yet here we are tonight with a perfectly reasonable proposition being put to us by the Minister to approve these regulations. I will not be insulting and say it is a bit of process-ology, but it is part of a process, and it is a process that has been going on for a long time.

It is certainly not new news. It was announced in April 2021, nearly four Prime Ministers ago, by the then Conservative Government when the noble Lord, Lord Sharma, was our COP 26 president-designate, and when the atmosphere and the cross-party consensus on the need to change and to make progress was very much accepted. So what we are debating here tonight in terms of the regret amendment is something that has been agreed for many years—decades, actually—that has been accounted for in our forthcoming carbon budgets, and that industry has known about for many years. As I say, it is not new news.

I know that the noble Lord, Lord Turner, who I think could not be here this evening, would be telling us that he discussed this issue when he was chair of the CCC over 15 years ago. I look forward to hearing from the noble Lord, Lord Deben, as a more recent chair.

I understand that the methodology is not yet perfect, but the Minister clearly explained why it is sensible to allow ourselves some room to develop it and, I hope, for it to be widely adopted by others. However, it makes no sense whatever for aviation and shipping to be left out of our carbon budgeting. They are important areas; progress is being made and we should be leading in what they are doing, not cavilling. At the moment, the rest of the UK economy is captured under our carbon budgets. Although there have been many arguments about the benefits and disbenefits and the pace of transition, I have never heard it said that the simple act of having carbon budgets has imposed cost on any industry. What they will do is place a legal requirement on the Government to ensure that these industries, alongside all the others, reduce their emissions. We have already legislated in the Sustainable Aviation Fuel Act to get started here. Enshrining this in law will create the legal certainty that businesses need, especially after the political upheaval of recent years, to invest and innovate.

I am tempted to say, “Nothing to see here”. I see the Whip would like me to sit down, so I end by saying that, if we do need to have a vote, which I consider unnecessary, I would certainly support the Government.