Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment he made in advance of the Summer Budget 2015 of the effect on the UK's carbon footprint of applying the climate change levy to renewable electricity.

Removing the Climate Change Levy (CCL) renewables exemption will have no direct impact on the UK’s ability to meet its climate change and renewables targets.

This Government takes its environmental responsibilities very seriously and is committed to meeting its climate change commitments as cost effectively as possible. We are currently making good progress on this, with emissions down 30% since 1990.

One third of the value of the CCL renewables exemption was going to support renewable generation projects based overseas. These projects do not contribute to our climate change commitments and so provided poor value for money for UK taxpayers.