Asked by: Baroness Jones of Whitchurch (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask Her Majesty's Government how many meetings of the Cabinet Committee on Climate Change have been chaired by the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy since his appointment as president of the COP26 climate change conference.
Answered by Lord Callanan - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
The Cabinet Committee on Climate Change has only been chaired by the Prime Minister. The Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy has therefore not chaired the Committee but attends alongside the Ministers of other Departments with responsibility for taking forward the UK’s approach to tackling climate change.
Asked by: Baroness Jones of Whitchurch (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask Her Majesty's Government how Parliament will be informed of progress towards preparing for COP26.
Answered by Lord Callanan - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
COP26 is a top international priority for the UK government and has rightly attracted parliamentary interest, attention and energy.
The Department is working closely with COP26 Unit to ensure that parliamentarians are engaged in the preparations and delivery of COP26, and that cross party ambition and support is galvanised to ensure the success of the conference.
Asked by: Baroness Jones of Whitchurch (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have to review the (1) effectiveness, and (2) accuracy, of Energy Performance Certificates as applied to domestic dwellings.
Answered by Lord Duncan of Springbank
The Government launched a Call for Evidence on Energy Performance Certificates (EPCs) in 2018, which covered questions of both EPC effectiveness and accuracy. We are conducting analysis of the responses and will publish a government response in due course.
Asked by: Baroness Jones of Whitchurch (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what cross-departmental structures have been put in place to ensure they deliver on their global climate change commitments at the COP26 Summit in 2020.
Answered by Lord Duncan of Springbank
The Government has set up a COP26 Unit within Cabinet Office. This unit leads on the delivery of the COP26 Summit and it will coordinate across Government departments and devolved administrations to ensure COP26 objectives are met.
The newly established Cabinet Committee on Climate Change will oversee preparations for COP26.
Asked by: Baroness Jones of Whitchurch (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what is their target for the number of energy efficiency upgrades of UK domestic properties in each of the next three years; and how achievement of those targets will be measured.
Answered by Lord Duncan of Springbank
We estimate that over 1.2 million energy efficiency measures will be installed in the homes of low income and vulnerable people in Great Britain from December 2018 to March 2022 under the current iteration of the Energy Company Obligation, ECO3. There is no target for the number of installations or properties treated, rather the target is set in notional lifetime bill savings. Further information can be found in the impact assessment online, but also attached.
As a result of the Private Rented Sector Minimum Energy Efficiency Standard we estimate that nearly 900,000 measures will be installed in EPC rated F&G properties in 2020.
Further information can be found in the impact assessment online, but also attached.
Asked by: Baroness Jones of Whitchurch (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to address the reduction in energy efficient upgrades to domestic housing since 2014.
Answered by Lord Duncan of Springbank
The Clean Growth Strategy set out the aspiration that as many homes as possible will be EPC Band C by 2035 where practical, cost-effective and affordable.
The current iteration of the Energy Company Obligation (ECO3) will upgrade around a million homes for low income and vulnerable households by March 2022, and we have committed to driving £6 billion into energy efficiency.
In April 2018, we introduced for the first time a minimum energy efficiency standard of EPC Bane E for private rented sector properties.
And, we have launched Simple Energy Advice, a new digital and phoneline service to provide homeowners with impartial and tailored advice on how to cut their energy bills and make their homes greener, as well as information on any available financial support.
Asked by: Baroness Jones of Whitchurch (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the contribution energy efficiency in properties can make to meeting the UK’s climate reduction targets.
Answered by Lord Duncan of Springbank
Improving the energy efficiency of domestic properties, commercial buildings and public sector buildings is vital for meeting the UK’s carbon reduction targets.
Homes in the UK represent 15% of carbon emissions and meeting the net zero target is likely to require largely eliminating emissions from our housing stock. That is why we set out our aspiration in the Clean Growth Strategy that all homes should be EPC Band C by 2035. However reducing demand for energy will not be enough on its own, and by 2050 we will also likely need to fully decarbonise how we heat our homes.
For businesses and industry, we set an ambition in the Clean Growth Strategy to reduce their energy usage by improving energy efficiency by at least 20% by 2030. This will deliver 22MtCO2e towards the fifth Carbon Budget.
For public sector buildings, the Clean Growth Strategy states non-traded emissions (primarily from heating) should fall by around 50% by 2032, compared to 2017. We estimate that around half of this reduction will be met through energy efficiency and half from decarbonising heat supply.
As with homes, it is likely that greenhouse gas emissions from non-domestic buildings will need to be largely eliminated by 2050 to meet the net zero target.
Asked by: Baroness Jones of Whitchurch (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have to establish a national fund to help low income, vulnerable and fuel poor households insulate their homes.
Answered by Lord Duncan of Springbank
We agree that increasing the energy efficiency of homes is the most sustainable long-term strategy to tackle fuel poverty.
That is why we have committed to driving £6 billion of investment in energy efficiency over the decade. Support for energy efficiency is available now through the Energy Company Obligation scheme, which requires energy companies to deliver heating and energy efficiency measures such as cavity wall insulation. The updated scheme, launched in late 2018 and running until March 2022, focuses entirely on providing support to low income, vulnerable and fuel poor households and is funded at £640m per year.
We have also introduced, from 1 April 2018, Minimum Energy Efficiency Standards which require landlords to invest up to £3,500 in energy efficiency improvements such as insulation to improve their rented properties to Energy Performance Certificate rating Band E.
We are consulting on an update to the Fuel Poverty Strategy for England. In this consultation, we seek views from stakeholders on what policies might be included in a policy plan to improve energy efficiency for households in fuel poverty.
Asked by: Baroness Jones of Whitchurch (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask Her Majesty's Government whether EU rulings on the patenting of seeds will apply in the UK after Brexit.
Answered by Lord Henley
Existing EU law relating to the patentability of plants will be retained after we leave the EU by virtue of the EU Withdrawal Act 2018. UK courts may choose to have regard to future EU case law once we leave the EU.
Asked by: Baroness Jones of Whitchurch (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what incentives they are providing to encourage home owners to retrofit energy saving installations in their homes to lower carbon emissions.
Answered by Lord Henley
In the Clean Growth Strategy, we set out our aspiration that as many homes as possible will be upgraded to an Energy Performance Certificate (EPC) Band C by 2035, where practical, cost effective and affordable. To do this we have: