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

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what recent assessment his Department has made of the viability of removing fossil fuels from the UK's energy generation mix.

Our Clean Growth Strategy set out the Government’s ambition for a diverse electricity system that supplies our homes and businesses with secure, affordable and clean power.[1]

We have already committed to phasing out generating power from coal by 2025[2] and recognise that reducing emissions in the power sector means developing low carbon sources of electricity that are both cheap and clean.

There is a number of decarbonisation pathways that balance the role of clean power sources with the use of fossil fuel generation such as from gas. These include those outlined in our Clean Growth Strategy[3], and the latest BEIS Energy and Emissions Projections.[4]

[1] See: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/clean-growth-strategy

[2] See: https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/coal-generation-in-great-britain-the-pathway-to-a-low-carbon-future

[3] See: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/clean-growth-strategy

[4] See: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/updated-energy-and-emissions-projections-2017