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

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what steps his Department is taking to ensure that (a) delays to and (b) cancellations of nuclear power station developments does not affect the Government's ability to meet its 2050 climate change targets.

On 27 June, a new, legally binding target to reach net zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050 came into force. This will require ambitious action across the economy building on our Clean Growth Strategy. Whether it is through our global offshore wind industry, our leadership on green finance, or our unrivalled research base leading the charge on electric vehicles, we are showing the economic benefits of how cutting emissions can help to grow our economy.

In the power sector, this will mean significant expansion in low carbon electricity generation, with important roles for renewables, carbon capture usage and storage, and nuclear power. We are already taking action to deliver this through the offshore wind sector deal, a commitment to bi-annual allocation of Contracts for Difference for renewable electricity generation with the third allocation round launched on 29 May, the nuclear sector deal, our review of the viability of a Regulated Asset Base (RAB) funding model for new nuclear power stations, and the CCUS action plan. The planned Energy White Paper will set out more detail on the policy framework that supports our ambitions.