Asked by: Dan Carden (Labour - Liverpool, Walton)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Minister of State, Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, pursuant to the Answer of 21 March 2024 to Question 19159 on Overseas Investment: Fossil Fuels, what his planned timescale is for ending support for the overseas fossil fuel sector.
Answered by Andrew Mitchell - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office) (Minister for Development)
The Government's policy on supporting overseas fossil fuel projects is set out at https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/65840f10fc07f300128d45e9/aligning-uk-international-support-for-the-clean-energy-transition.pdf. This policy has been in force since 31 March 2021.
All investment commitments made by BII since December 2020 meet the conditions set out in BII's Climate Change Strategy and the UK Government's fossil fuel policy. BII are committed to Paris alignment and to reaching net zero at a portfolio level by 2050. A quick sale of existing fossil fuel assets would simply offload the problem to other potentially less responsible investors and may not offer value for money for the British taxpayer.
Asked by: Dan Carden (Labour - Liverpool, Walton)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Minister of State, Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, pursuant to the Answer of 21 March 2024 to Question 19159 on Overseas Investment: Fossil Fuels, if he will publish a full energy portfolio for British International Investment setting out investments in (a) fossil fuels and (b) renewable energy in (i) 2021, (ii) 2022 and (iii) 2023.
Answered by Andrew Mitchell - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office) (Minister for Development)
BII already discloses the percentage of assets in its portfolio that can be considered climate finance and 'carbon-related' (i.e. in the fossil fuel value chain) as part of its annual Task Force on Climate related Financial Disclosures (TCFD) reporting in its Annual Accounts (published on BII's website), in line with TCFD recommendations.
The UK's Development White Paper set the ambition for BII to become the most transparent bilateral Development Finance Institution. Subsequently, BII has published a Transparency Roadmap. For its existing portfolio, the Roadmap commits BII to state whether an investment is fossil fuel or renewable energy power generation. This will be available on its public investment database by the end of the year.
Asked by: Dan Carden (Labour - Liverpool, Walton)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Minister of State, Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, with reference to the press release entitled PM announces the UK will end support for fossil fuel sector overseas, published on 12 December 2020, how many fossil fuel-related investments British International Investment has divested away from since that date.
Answered by Andrew Mitchell - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office) (Minister for Development)
All investment commitments made by British International Investment (BII) since December 2020 meet the conditions set out in BII's Climate Change Strategy and the UK Government's fossil fuel policy. BII publishes detailed metrics on portfolio-level exposure to carbon-related assets in their publicly available Annual Accounts. This is in line with TCFD-recommended disclosures. The latest data can be found at: https://www.bii.co.uk/annual-review-2022/publication/contents/templates/British_International_Investment_Annual_Review_2022.pdf. BII will release an update to these figures in the 2023 Annual Accounts, to be published later this year.
Asked by: Caroline Lucas (Green Party - Brighton, Pavilion)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, with reference to media reports that British International Investment holds at least 20 investments in fossil fuel companies, what assessment he has made of the compatibility of these holdings with the UK’s commitment to end investments in fossil fuels overseas.
Answered by Anne-Marie Trevelyan - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
All investment commitments made by British International Investment (BII) since December 2020 meet the conditions set out in BII's Climate Change Strategy (https://www.bii.co.uk/en/climate-change-strategy/) and the UK Government's fossil fuel policy. The policy excludes investment in the vast majority of fossil fuel sub-sectors with very limited exceptions, such as where an investment would be part of enabling a transition to a net-zero economy.
Commitments made by BII prior to the implementation of the above policies are subject to the legal terms agreed at the time of the commitment.
Through its Climate Change Strategy, BII is committed to achieving net-zero by 2050. Since 2017, BII has committed £1.7 billion in climate finance. Information on all of BII's investments including their energy portfolio is published on its website (available https://www.bii.co.uk/en/news-insight/insight/articles/the-transition-to-net-zero-explaining-our-current-energy-portfolio/).
Asked by: Catherine West (Labour - Hornsey and Wood Green)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what discussions he has had with the Secretary of State for Business regarding on Chinese investment in British nuclear projects.
Answered by Anne-Marie Trevelyan - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The Foreign Secretary continues to work closely with the Secretary of State for Business and our officials are in regular discussions on these issues. We welcome overseas investment into the UK's nuclear sector, and value the important role international partners have in our current nuclear programmes and potential new projects. Nuclear power has a key role to play as we work to reduce our reliance on fossil fuels and exposure to volatile global gas prices. All investment involving critical infrastructure (which includes nuclear) is subject to thorough scrutiny and must satisfy our robust legal, regulatory and national security requirements. The powers we have through the National Security and Investment Act will further enhance our ability to intervene if required.
Asked by: Chris Law (Scottish National Party - Dundee West)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, how much her Department has spent on fossil fuel projects overseas in each of the last three years.
Answered by Vicky Ford
Since 31 March 2021 the UK Government no longer provides any new direct financial support for fossil fuel energy overseas. There are limited exemptions such as health and safety improvements and gas power generation forming part of wider clean energy transitions.
In the last 3 years the main area of Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) funding (and legacy DFID) for international fossil fuel projects has been for energy infrastructure through British International Investment (formerly known as the CDC Group) and the Private Infrastructure Development Group (PIDG). Other areas of assistance include strengthening governance in the fossil fuel sector and accelerating access to clean cooking through the use of gas.
British International Investment (BII) publishes its energy portfolio: data is available for 2019 and 2020. BII's energy portfolio as at 31 December 2021 will be published in due course.
PIDG is a multi-donor programme. The UK is the owner that has provided the largest financial support to PIDG, providing some $1.2 billion of the $1.8 billion of funding provided by owners from 2002-2021. Collectively, the PIDG contributed approximately £47.9 million (2019), £59.5 million (2020), and £32.0 million (2021) to fossil fuel projects - exclusively gas fired electricity generation and storage infrastructure.
FCDO is working closely with other government departments and international partners to scale-up access to renewable energy and transition away from fossil fuels while ensuring affordability and security of supplies.
Asked by: Sarah Champion (Labour - Rotherham)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, pursuant to the Answer of 23 July 2021 to Question 35598 on Fossil Fuels: Overseas Investment, if she will publish the projects in CDC Group’s energy portfolio as at December 2020.
Answered by James Cleverly - Home Secretary
In July 2020, CDC launched its new Climate Strategy. Subsequently, in December 2020, CDC launched its Fossil Fuel Policy and Gas Guidance Tool, which is fully aligned with the UK Government's fossil fuel policy. The policy excludes investment in the vast majority of fossil fuel types with very limited exclusions.
CDC has published its full energy portfolio data for 2020 as at December 2020. Data for 2020 is available on CDC's website: https://www.cdcgroup.com/en/news-insight/insight/articles/the-transition-to-net-zero-explaining-our-current-energy-portfolio/.
Asked by: Layla Moran (Liberal Democrat - Oxford West and Abingdon)
Question to the Department for International Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, pursuant to the Answer of 18 October 2021 to Question 5534, what the exceptional circumstances are in which the Government would provide direct financial or promotional support for the fossil fuel energy sector overseas.
Answered by Mike Freer - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Justice)
The limited exemptions available to the Government’s policy on support for new fossil fuel projects overseas are set out online at: www.gov.uk/government/publications/how-the-government-will-implement-its-policy-on-support-for-the-fossil-fuel-energy-sector-overseas.
Asked by: Caroline Lucas (Green Party - Brighton, Pavilion)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, if he can provide a full list of fossil fuel projects in CDC Group’s portfolio.
Answered by James Duddridge
CDC has published its full energy portfolio, as at December 2019, on its website - https://assets.cdcgroup.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/11174306/Fossil-Fuels-and-Renewables-portfolio-as-at-31-December-2019-pdf.pdf
Having published its 2020 Annual Review on the 6th July, CDC will publish its full energy portfolio, as at December 2020, on its website in due course.
Asked by: Baroness Blackstone (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon on 25 February (HL13294), what assessment they have made of the Science Based Targets initiative; and whether any fossil fuel projects permitted under the "very limited exceptions” will be limited to investments and loan guarantees to organisations committed to the targets of that initiative.
Answered by Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The Science Based Targets initiative aims to obtain commitments from corporates to reduce their impact on climate change, based on their proportionate contribution to climate targets. As the exemptions within the Government's new policy on support for the fossil fuel energy sector overseas are not restricted to corporations, the Science Based Targets initiative was not considered during the formulation of the exemptions within the new policy.
The Government published detailed guidance accompanying the change to its policy on support for the fossil fuel energy sector overseas on 31 March which is available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/how-the-government-will-implement-its-policy-on-support-for-the-fossil-fuel-energy-sector-overseas. We will consider any requests for project financing against the published guidance. The policies of CDC, the UK's development finance institution, are well aligned to the delivery of the Government's new policy.