Clause 80
Climate Change Bill [Lords]
5:15 pm
Gregory Barker (Shadow Minister, Environment, Food & Rural Affairs; Bexhill and Battle, Conservative)
I associate myself with the sensible remarks made by the hon. Member for Northavon. We Conservatives are disappointed that the Government appear intent on weakening the Bill. Their lordships did an excellent job in enhancing the Bill in the other place and I am sorry that the Government are, again, trying to move back from the efforts that were made there.
I have made it clear to the Committee previously that one of the many reasons why we strongly support the Bill is because it gives long-term certainty and clarity to business, which is sorely lacking and badly needed. Clause 80 is an important part of the Bill because it gives exactly that sought-after clarity. I am aware that there are already a number of voluntary reporting standards for greenhouse gas emissions, such as the carbon disclosure project, but despite the admirable efforts of groups such as the CDP, reporting of clear, comparable information about UK business carbon emissions remains low. The latest carbon disclosure survey, from October 2007, found that only 46 per cent. of the FTSE 350 companies provided quantitative emissions data and, to quote the carbon disclosure project report:
“Investors still lack much of the necessary information to make informed decisions with respect to carbon emissions and embedded costs, given the limited quantitative disclosures by many of the companies listed in the FTSE 350.”
For that reason, Conservative peers supported the inclusion of clause 80 in the Bill, and for the same reason I should like the clause to stay where it is. My party has long been aware of the necessity for greater clarity on carbon reporting, but with two caveats. First, one standard methodology should be agreed to, rather than allowing a situation to develop where a patchwork of different accounting methodologies are being used by different companies, resulting in little more than mutual confusion. Secondly, we do not want small enterprises given additional reporting requirements that would add even more red tape and costs to their businesses.
I draw Committee members’ attention to early-day motion 81, tabled by my hon. Friend the Member for East Surrey (Mr. Ainsworth), which stated:
“This House...congratulates businesses that have begun to measure to reduce the carbon emissions resulting from their operations, supply chains, products and services; further notes the difficulties in defining the parameters for such measurement and in agreeing methodologies; believes that such measurements would enable both informed comparison and customer choice; emphasises the need for national and international consensus on such measurement and methodologies; and calls upon the Royal Society to take forward the process for establishing a mechanism for achieving such a consensus”
on such measurement and methodologies.