Asked by: Sonia Kumar (Labour - Dudley)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, what steps his Department plans to take to support green projects in the Black Country.
Answered by Kerry McCarthy - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
The Government supports local places to drive action to deliver green projects and help realise our national net zero targets. Great British Energy will partner with community energy groups and local government, including Mayoral Strategic Authorities, to support the development of clean energy projects. Government also funds the Local Net Zero Accelerator pilot programme (including in West Midlands Combined Authority) to test how to support local places to leverage in commercial net zero investment at scale, alongside five Local Net Zero Hubs (including the Midlands Net Zero Hub) to support local government to develop net zero projects and attract commercial investment.
Asked by: Sonia Kumar (Labour - Dudley)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, if he will make an assessment of the potential impact of the emissions trading scheme on the clay brick and rooftile industry.
Answered by Sarah Jones - Minister of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
UK Emissions Trading Scheme (UK ETS) participants, including the clay brick and rooftile sector, are provided with free allocations, reducing their exposure to the carbon price and mitigating their risk of carbon leakage whilst continuing to provide an incentive to decarbonise at the least cost route. This approach is currently being reviewed to ensure we can better target support for sectors most at risk of carbon leakage.
We are very mindful of the impact of the ETS on industrial participants, and have committed to an ongoing assessment of the scheme’s effectiveness – outputs of this review will be published in 2026. Interim outcomes of this review can be found on gov.uk.
Asked by: Sonia Kumar (Labour - Dudley)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, when her Department will publish the response to the consultation entitled Extending the UK Emissions Trading Scheme cap beyond 2030.
Answered by Sarah Jones - Minister of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
The UK ETS Authority, the joint governance body comprising of the UK Government, Welsh Government, Scottish Government and the Northern Ireland Executive, is grateful for the range of stakeholder responses to the Extending the UK ETS cap beyond 2030 consultation.
The Authority recognises the importance of providing certainty and clarity on the scheme that is a cornerstone of its economy-wide approach to decarbonising the whole of the UK. A response to the consultation, outlining the Authority’s decisions, will be published as soon as possible.