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

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, whether the Government plans to leave the EU’s emissions trading scheme; and what steps the Government is taking to maintain its commitment to cut carbon emissions after the UK leaves the EU.

Under the terms of the Withdrawal Agreement after the UK leaves the EU on 29 March 2019, the UK’s participation in the EU Emissions Trading System (EU ETS) will continue until the end of the Implementation Period. This aligns with the end of Phase III (December 2020) of the EU ETS.

The Political Declaration sets out that the UK and the EU have agreed to consider cooperating on carbon pricing through linking a UK national greenhouse gas emissions trading system with the EU ETS. The details of these arrangements will be a matter for the next phase of the negotiations. The Government will consult on our future approach to carbon pricing in due course.

In the event that the UK leaves without a deal in 2019, the UK would cease to participate in the EU ETS. To ensure stability and to meet the UK’s legally binding carbon reduction commitments under the Climate Change Act, a Carbon Emissions Tax would be introduced from 1 April 2019.

The Government is committed to tackling climate change. We are making strong progress towards our legally binding targets established in the world-leading Climate Change Act. Between 1990 and 2017, the UK reduced its greenhouse gas emissions by over 40% while growing the economy by more than two thirds - the best performance in the G7 on a per person basis.

We recognise the need to go further and the Clean Growth Strategy sets out our plans through to 2032, to build on our successes to date. It includes ambitious proposals on housing, business, transport, the natural environment and green finance.