Clause 43
Climate Change Bill [Lords]
1:15 pm
Michael Weir (Spokesperson (Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform; Energy; Work and Pensions); Angus, Scottish National Party)
It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship this afternoon, Mr. Atkinson.
I make a similar point to that of the hon. Member for Vale of York. The clause seems to give all national authorities the power to begin their own trading schemes, but it is not clear how they will interact with each other and, more crucially, the EU ETS. As the Minister will know, one of the early problems with the EU ETS was a fall in the price of carbon to a very low level. It is not clear how the carbon price would be dealt with in the various sub-national and UK-wide schemes, as opposed to the EU scheme. I am concerned that we might arrive at a situation in which the various schemes cover the same industry, but the price of carbon in each one may be different. That could cause problems for both the UK scheme and the EU scheme as a whole, and I would like some reassurances about how that will be dealt with. Obviously, the price of carbon will be crucial in making the EU—or any other—scheme work.