Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what assessment he has made of the potential contribution of community energy to meeting the fourth and fifth greenhouse gas emissions budgets under the Climate Change Act 2008.

The Government is building on its Clean Growth Strategy and has already made significant progress towards meeting the UK’s net zero target. We have met our first and second carbon budgets that were established under the Climate Change Act 2008, and we are on track for the third.

As a Government, we have supported community energy through the £10m Rural Community Energy Fund, and through extensions for community groups under the Feed in Tariffs to ensure that communities can develop renewable energy projects. We are also working closely with Community Energy England on the Community Energy Hub and in creating a regional network of support for communities getting involved directly in reducing their carbon footprint. This includes developing a new tool for parish councils, as well as the SCATTER tool for local authorities.

Our forthcoming sector strategies on energy, heat and buildings and the environment, and our wider plans to deliver a green economic recovery following the COVID-19 pandemic, will contain further proposals to support us in meeting carbon budgets 4 and 5. Two cabinet committees, chaired by my Rt hon Friend the Prime Minister and my Rt hon Friend the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, have also been established to turbo-charge the net zero transition and co-ordinate action across Government.