Question

To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, if she will make it her policy to support a global goal to phase out pollution from fossil fuels and replace them with 100 per cent clean, safe energy by 2050.

The Government fully recognises the need for long term certainty on the low carbon transition as this will give businesses and investors confidence, helping to ensure the most cost effective climate action and the development and deployment of new innovation and technology and help to reduce costs for us all and secure growth and jobs.

This is why my rt. hon. Friend the Prime Minister, along with other G7 Leaders, emphasised at the G7 Summit in June that “deep cuts in global greenhouse gas emissions are required with a decarbonisation of the global economy over the course of this century”, including “striving for a transformation of the energy sectors by 2050”.

For the UK, our policy on this is already clear and certain, through the legal commitment set out in our Climate Change Act – reducing UK emissions by at least 80% by 2050 compared to 1990 levels. The G7 commitment shows other big economies are also acting alongside us us.