Energy: Shale Gas

Baroness Worthington Excerpts

Wednesday 17th October 2012 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Verma]

My Lords, my noble friend is right to raise her concern, and I hope that I can reassure her that any abstraction of water for industrial purposes is subject to control by the Environment Agency or by corresponding bodies in Scotland and Northern Ireland. The agencies will not permit additional abstraction in any area if they consider that it is not sustainable.

[Baroness Worthington]

My Lords, whether gas comes from fracking or more conventional sources, it is still a source of carbon dioxide and greenhouse gases. Therefore, will the Minister reassure us that in the horse trading that we believe is going on around the Energy Bill at the moment, there will be no concession to reduce our investment in carbon capture and storage in favour of decarbonisation? We must do both, and we must have carbon capture and storage on gas if it is to play a role in the future.

[Baroness Verma]

I absolutely agree with the noble Baroness. It is an exciting technology that can decarbonise coal and gas-fired power stations and large industrial emitters. The Government are absolutely committed to CCS. We have one of the best offers anywhere in the world, including £1 billion in capital funding for our new competition, contracts for difference for low-carbon generation through our electricity market reforms, and £125 million to support research and development.