Question to the Department for International Trade:

To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, pursuant to the Answer of 26 June 2020 to Question 60657 on Renewable energy, what plans her Department has to install solar panels and wind turbines on its buildings in the next five years.

The Government Property Agency (GPA) does not have plans for the installation of solar panels and wind turbines on the DIT buildings for which GPA is responsible.

However, GPA is developing a ‘Government Office Net Zero Programme’ to support the following targets of HM Government:

• To reduce the United Kingdom’s net emissions of greenhouse gases by 100% relative to 1990 levels by 2050, making our nation a ‘Net Zero’ emitter

• To have at least a 50% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions across the public sector estate by 2032, against a 2017 baseline.

GPA has committed to the following objectives for the estate they manage:

• Improve energy efficiency (reduce consumption/improve thermal efficiency)

• Use green energy (decarbonise)

• Generate and store green energy (locally)

• Reduce embodied carbon (in construction)

To meet the third objective, GPA is currently assessing opportunities for the local generation and storage of green energy on a number of buildings within their estate, which may include solar panels and wind turbines.

GPA plans to request funding for the ‘Government Office Net Zero Programme’ as part of the 2020 Spending Review. The buildings that may be in scope, preferred technologies and precise funding are all subject to further development and approval.