Question

To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, if he has made an assessment of the potential effect of automatic energy imports from the US to the EU arising from the Trans-Atlantic Trade and Investment Partnership negotiations on EU carbon emission targets.

Concluding an ambitious and comprehensive EU-US trade deal that benefits UK consumers and business, especially small and medium sized enterprises, is a priority for the Government. Improved access to US exports of energy would form part of a successful Transatlantic Trade & Investment Partnership agreement, helping to diversify the EU’s energy sources, and is therefore an EU priority in the negotiations. Internal EU negotiations on carbon emissions targets are at an advanced stage and involve consideration of the energy profiles of the EU as a whole and of individual EU Member States across the full range of options. These options include the potential role of increased imports of gas, from the US and elsewhere, to help to reduce EU emissions levels in future decades.

Factors such as the time needed to build new export terminals in the US and costs of liquefaction and transport mean that it is likely to be some years before EU Member States could import US gas in significant quantities. Recent events in Ukraine further underline the need for the EU to diversify its energy sources. Making full use of indigenous energy resources is also important for energy security. Here in the UK, the Government continues to work closely with industry to encourage further investment in domestic energy production, including oil, gas, nuclear and renewables.