Clause 23
Climate Change Bill [Lords]
7:00 pm
Gregory Barker (Shadow Minister, Environment, Food & Rural Affairs; Bexhill and Battle, Conservative)
I have much sympathy with the spirit of the amendment, about which the hon. Member for Cheltenham spoke fluently. It would be foolish to consider the science of heat-trapping gas emissions on a global scale without taking due consideration of the full basket of greenhouses gases. It is well known that, as the hon. Gentleman said, methane has 22 times the heat-trapping potency of carbon dioxide. It is less well known, although it causes considerably more concern to learn, that nitrous oxide is 310 times more powerful than carbon dioxide as a heat-trapping gas. Any agreement that moves to deal with greenhouse gases globally must therefore include the full basket of the six major gases. However, we should remind ourselves that the Bill legislates for only the UK, as the Government were at great pains to remind us during the discussion over their principal aim.
The evidence presented in the DEFRA report on national statistics in relation to UK greenhouse gases shows that carbon dioxide, standing at 85 per cent. in 2006, accounts for the vast majority of UK emissions. Importantly, the remaining 15 per cent. of emissions, which comprise the more potent greenhouse gases, are, I am pleased to say, in steady decline in this country, whereas the UK’s carbon dioxide emissions have risen substantially since 1997. That is why the primary focus of the legislation should, at least for the time being, be on reducing carbon dioxide emissions.
To back up my argument with some figures, UK emissions in 1997 were 548.1 million tonnes CO2 and, in 2006, they were 554.5 million tonnes CO2. That is an increase of 6.4 million tonnes. DEFRA statistics show that UK CO2 emissions have risen in five of the past 10 years. The UK will meet its Kyoto reduction targets only because of the dash for gas under the last Conservative Administration, which resulted in a reduction of the UK’s CO2 emissions from more than 590 million tonnes in 1991 to a low of 540 million tonnes in 1999.
In March 2006, the Government dropped their manifesto commitment, which was repeated in three successive manifestos, to cut carbon emissions by 20 per cent. by 2010. The 2010 target was set independently by the Royal Commission on Environmental Pollution. It was replaced in 2006 by the climate change programme review, which pledged to cut emissions by 15 per cent. by 2010. Despite Labour’s three manifesto promises to slash emissions by 20 per cent., carbon emissions have clearly risen since 1997. In 2006, CO2 emissions fell by just 0.1 per cent. The Bill must focus on reducing carbon dioxide emissions.
Allow me to contrast the figures on carbon with our national emissions of other greenhouse gases. According to DEFRA, in 2006, methane accounted for 7.5 per cent. of the UK’s emissions, but that was a reduction of 53 per cent. below 1990 levels. In 2006, the main source of methane emissions were landfill sites and agriculture, but emissions from landfill and agriculture have reduced by 61 per cent. and 13 per cent. respectively since 1990. Again, according to DEFRA, emissions of nitrous oxide, which is a particularly nasty gas, fell, thankfully, by 40 per cent. between 1990 and 2006, with a year-on-year reduction from 2005-06 of 3.7 per cent. If only we could repeat that level of performance on carbon dioxide we would be in a far better position to meet our 2050 targets in good time.
Given the drop in emissions of the basket of greenhouse gases and, by contrast, our poor national record of reducing CO2, which constitutes 85 per cent. of our emissions, the focus of the Bill should remain on carbon dioxide only. We might find that emissions of other greenhouse gases rise in future. Fortunately, there is sufficient flexibility in the Bill to allow the Secretary of State to redefine the scope of the Bill when and if it is seen to be fit to include the other heat-trapping gases.
We should remain mindful of the challenges ahead in reducing our carbon dioxide emissions. The Government’s willingness to build a new and unabated coal-burning power station at Kingsnorth springs to mind. That power station alone would emit more than 7 million tonnes of CO2 into our atmosphere if the emissions were not captured and stored from some point in the future.
I note that the Government’s consultation on the definition of “carbon capture ready” was discreetly announced last night. We should bear in mind the implications of that definition as we debate that further in this Bill.