Net Zero Strategy: High Court Ruling

Olivia Blake Excerpts

Thursday 21st July 2022 Commons Chamber

[Olivia Blake (Sheffield, Hallam) (Lab)]

I am surprised by the right hon. Gentleman’s response to this debate, because the summary of the findings highlights that the net zero strategy

“did not reveal that the quantitative analysis put before the Minister left a shortfall against the reductions required by CB6”.

Does the Minister agree that this House should have known that and also known how the Government planned to mitigate that? Are they not embarrassed that they felt that they could hide such an omission from this House, where we hold them to account?

[Greg Hands]

We have to understand the context, which is setting out where 95% of emissions will come from in carbon budget 6. CB6 covers the years 2033—not 2023—to 2037. If we were to have gone back 30 years and asked, “How will we do our emissions over the next 30 years?”, I venture to suggest that that would not have been an entirely accurate exercise. I think that 95% is very credible for CB6, which covers 2033 to 2037. It is worth pointing out again that the court judgment was on this very narrow aspect—it is not about the net zero strategy as a whole. It sounds as though the hon. Lady has read part of the net zero strategy, and I strongly commend that she goes through the whole thing in more detail.