Asked by: Richard Thomson (Scottish National Party - Gordon)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, what steps she is taking to encourage (a) investment in and (b) development of the connection between onshore oil and gas and carbon capture, usage and storage (CCUS) technologies.
Answered by Andrew Bowie - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
The skills and investment of the oil and gas sector will drive our energy transition.
A government-funded report looking at the CCUS supply chain found that oil and gas supply chain companies are in prime position to win work in carbon capture and storage.
Government is also making it easier for workers to move between different energy sectors, ensuring that their skills can be tapped into to support the transition.
The Offshore Petroleum Licensing Bill introduced last year will support ongoing investment, protect the 200,000 jobs supported by oil and gas, and support the wider energy transition including CCUS development.
Asked by: Matthew Offord (Conservative - Hendon)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what targets his Department has set to help achieve the Government's commitments on net zero.
Answered by Gareth Davies - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
The Government set out how we would meet our commitments in the Net Zero Strategy in 2021 which included a detailed breakdown of actions required across all sectors in the economy. This was updated in 2023 through the publication of 'Powering Up Britain'.
The UK has halved its emissions, ahead of every other major economy, and we have grown our economy by over 70% since 1990. The UK over-achieved against the first and second carbon budgets, and the latest projections show that we are on track to meet the third.
We have one of the most ambitious decarbonisation targets in the world, and we have set more stretching targets for 2030 than most countries. We plan to cut emissions by 68% by 2030, which is more than the EU, Japan or the United States.
Since Spending Review 2021, Government has committed an additional £6 billion for energy efficiency and clean heat, up to £20 billion for Carbon Capture, Use and Storage (CCUS) and £960m through the Green Industries Growth Accelerator.
Asked by: Peter Bottomley (Conservative - Worthing West)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, whether she plans to seek approval from Parliament before taking a decision on burning of wood in UK power stations after 2027.
Answered by Andrew Bowie - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
Government is currently consulting on potential arrangements to help facilitate the transition of large-scale biomass generation to power bioenergy with carbon capture and storage. Responses to the consultation will help to inform government policy on this matter. As set out in the consultation, a potential support mechanism is expected to require secondary legislation which would be brought to Parliament as part of the legislative process.
Asked by: Andy Carter (Conservative - Warrington South)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, what steps her Department is taking to support the development of carbon capture, utilisation and storage technology.
Answered by Andrew Bowie - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
We are clear that CCUS is a priority for this Government, and we are progressing at pace. In March 2023 we announced up to £20 billion funding for early deployment of CCUS across all sectors, and in December we outlined how we will get to a competitive carbon capture market by 2035.
Asked by: Kerry McCarthy (Labour - Bristol East)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment he has made of the implications for his policies of the (a) carbon sequestration potential of grasslands and (b) impact of sampling depth on the amount of carbon stored.
Answered by Rebecca Pow - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
In June 2019, the Environment Agency published a State of the Environment: Soil Report, which identified that intensive agriculture, such as ploughing up permanent pasture for arable crops or temporary grassland, usually reduces soil organic matter (including carbon).
We are paying for a range of actions through farming schemes such as Sustainable Farming Incentive to support farm decarbonisation and Countryside Stewardship and Landscape Recovery to store more carbon in the landscape. The schemes will help farmers deliver environmental outcomes on the land they manage while helping their businesses become more productive and sustainable.
Arable soils are known to be more depleted in soil carbon than grasslands, so the potential for future sequestration is lower in grasslands than when compared to arable soils. Sampling to a meter’s depth is preferable so that as much of the soil carbon store as possible may be measured. However, in order to provide a balance between practicality and robust measurements, sampling to a depth of up to 40cm would generally be appropriate as this is the depth to which most land management practices affect the soil profile most significantly.
Robust and accurate carbon audits which are based on or from business-level data can be valuable in benchmarking performance, and help farm businesses plan and action decarbonising measures and enhance management of negative emissions. To help farmers confidently understand the emissions on their land and take advantage of the new financial opportunities this will unlock, we are committed to developing a harmonised approach to measuring carbon on farms. We are also considering how we can best support the implementation of carbon audits through a controlled expansion of the Defra Farming and Countryside Programme sustainable farming advice offer.
We recognise the challenges in improving the robustness and consistency of carbon auditing tools. To help harmonise these tools and how they are used, Defra is currently funding a 'Harmonisation of Carbon Accounting Tools for Agriculture' project to assess differences between a number of market leading carbon calculators, understand the causes of this divergence and how it impacts tool users and how to improve harmonisation.
Defra is also working to provide greater access to the calculations and the models developed as part of the UK’s Agricultural Inventory of Ammonia and GHG Emissions to interested third parties. This will support longer term alignment between the UK’s national GHG accounts and primary data gathered from farms.
Asked by: Caroline Lucas (Green Party - Brighton, Pavilion)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, what recent assessment he has made of the effectiveness of the North Sea Transition Authority for supporting the delivery of the UK’s climate targets.
Answered by Amanda Solloway - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury
The North Sea Transition Authority plays a crucial role in helping to achieve the Government's commitment to reach Net Zero emissions by 2050. Its Strategy reflects the ongoing energy transition and features a range of net zero obligations on the oil and gas industry, including stepping up efforts to reduce production emissions, supporting carbon capture and storage projects and unlocking clean hydrogen production.
Asked by: Dan Carden (Labour - Liverpool, Walton)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, what assessment she has made of the potential implications for her Department's policies of the International Energy Agency's publication entitled The Oil and Gas Industry in Net Zero Transitions, published in November 2023.
Answered by Graham Stuart
The Government reads publications from the International Energy Agency with interest and will consider the contents of its latest report carefully. As recognised in the report, the oil and gas industry is well placed to scale up some of the key technologies needed to reach net zero such as hydrogen, carbon capture, and offshore wind.
Asked by: Alistair Carmichael (Liberal Democrat - Orkney and Shetland)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, whether she has had discussions with the Chancellor of the Exchequer on funding to support the development of the low-carbon cement sector.
Answered by Graham Stuart
My Rt hon Friend the Secretary of State regularly discusses a range of issues with my Rt hon Friend Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer. Carbon Capture Usage and Storage will be crucial for decarbonisation of industries, such as cement, which otherwise lack viable alternatives to achieve deep decarbonisation. CCUS and low carbon hydrogen are vital to transforming these sectors. In March, the Chancellor announced £20 billion investment in the early development of CCUS to help meet the Government’s climate commitments. The Government is taking forward the Hanson Padeswood Cement Works to proceed to negotiations for support under the Industrial Carbon Capture business model.
Asked by: Kerry McCarthy (Labour - Bristol East)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, whether her Department has made an assessment of the (a) role and (b) limitations of carbon capture and storage in supporting broader efforts to decarbonise the construction sector.
Answered by Graham Stuart
Industrial carbon capture and storage use will play a crucial role in deep decarbonisation of heavy industries that would otherwise have no alternative to decarbonise, including in the construction sector. CCUS is the only viable solution for addressing process emissions, such as from cement production.
The Hanson Padeswood Cement Works and Buxton Lime Net Zero projects were selected as two of the eight projects to move to negotiations as part of our Track-1 Project Negotiation List.
The Department for Business and Trade is working with the construction sector through the Construction Leadership Council, with a key priority being net zero and biodiversity, to support decarbonisation in the sector.
Asked by: Andrew Percy (Conservative - Brigg and Goole)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, pursuant to the Answer of 19 September 2023 to Question 199325 on Biofuels, whether that assessment includes whether transitional support should (a) include all unabated biomass power generators and (b) be restricted to biomass power generation sites scoped into the power bioenergy and carbon capture programme.
Answered by Graham Stuart
Government plans to consult shortly on eligibility for potential support for facilitating the transition from unabated biomass generation to power bioenergy with carbon capture and storage.