Education: Climate Change Science

Debate between Lord Agnew of Oulton and Lord Lilley

Thursday 16th May 2019 Lords Chamber

[Lord Agnew of Oulton]

My Lords, there is absolutely no suggestion that there is denial of climate change by this Government. Indeed, we have seen some of the most dramatic improvements in dealing with decarbonisation of the economy over the last 10 years. We are leading the way in the G20, we have reduced carbon in the economy by 4.7% per year, which is double the G7 average, and we have some of the highest levels of wind generation in the world—so I can assure the noble Lord that we are not anti or against it. However, we also have to remember that we should be worried not just about climate change but about environmental contamination.

[Lord Lilley (Con)]

My Lords, I draw attention to my interests in the register. Will my noble friend ensure that climate change is taught within the context of the scientific method, which requires predictions based on hypothesis to be tested against observations? Therefore, let children know that the impact of CO₂ is well established by observations and can be measured, and that the direct effect of doubling the amount of CO₂ in the atmosphere will be a one degree centigrade increase in the average temperature of the globe. However, higher estimates, based on much less certain feedbacks for which there is not observational confirmation, and all the forecasts based on climate models, assume very high feedbacks that have been falsified by observations. Therefore, those models need to be amended.

[Lord Agnew of Oulton]

I assure the noble Lord that we are improving the curriculum all the time. For example, in 2018, 96% of pupils in state-funded schools were entered for the science component of the EBacc. The proportion of pupils taking GCSE geography increased from 26% in 2010 to 41% last year. We have also seen increases in participation in A-level chemistry and physics. These are all science and evidence-based subjects.