SMEs: Net-zero Targets

Lord Bellingham Excerpts
Wednesday 7th June 2023

(11 months, 1 week ago)

Lords Chamber
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Lord Callanan Portrait Lord Callanan (Con)
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I agree very much with my noble friend, and we are working with a number of manufacturers looking to relocate production to the UK. I think his figures in terms of the percentage produced in the UK are slightly wrong. Mitsubishi in Scotland produces a large number of heat pumps and there are a number of ground source heat pump manufacturers as well. We want more relocated into the UK. We are looking at a market mechanism with the boiler manufacturers, and have a grant programme to relocate production facilities into the UK.

Lord Bellingham Portrait Lord Bellingham (Con)
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My Lords, as the noble Lord, Lord St John, pointed out, 99% of businesses in this country are SMEs and many will not be able to reach carbon neutrality. What are the Government going to do to try to help them with carbon offsetting?

Lord Callanan Portrait Lord Callanan (Con)
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My noble friend makes a good point. Of course, carbon offsetting is a controversial area. We must ensure that any offsetting that takes place is genuine, viable and reduces real-world carbon production.