Results 1-20 of 792 for (in the 'Commons debates' OR in the 'Westminster Hall debates' OR in the 'Lords debates' OR in the 'Northern Ireland Assembly debates') speaker:Greg Clark

Olympics: Energy National Policy Statements (9 Nov 2009) has video

Greg Clark: What we have heard softly spoken is a declaration of a national emergency for our energy security. The question that the Secretary of State must answer is why did the Government leave it so late? The statement is made necessary by the Government's admission in July that they expect power cuts in 2017—that was the first time since the 1970s that a British Government have had to make such...

Climate Change (5 Nov 2009) has video

Greg Clark: May I say how much the Conservatives welcome this important debate at this important time? We particularly welcome the tone that the Secretary of State has brought to his remarks today. We entirely concur with it and we appreciate the bipartisanship with which he has approached this issue. It is just 31 days until the beginning of the talks in Copenhagen and it is vital that from this debate...

Climate Change (5 Nov 2009) has video

Greg Clark: The hon. Gentleman sets out the challenge and I shall go on to address it in detail. It is very difficult to tell whether that figure is the right one, and perhaps during the winding-up speech the Minister will apprise us of its construction. I think that we are all agreed that it needs to be adequate to the task of helping countries that will be affected by the consequences of climate change...

Climate Change (5 Nov 2009) has video

Greg Clark: I hope that the hon. Lady is not trying to sow dissent and concern where they do not exist. My party in this country and in its European alliances is completely committed to tackling climate change. In fact, we regard it as one of the essential competences of the EU. There is no difference there. Many of our allies have some of the best records in Europe. Greenpeace in the Netherlands cited...

Climate Change (5 Nov 2009) has video

Greg Clark: My right hon. Friend always speaks with clarity, and he certainly did then. That is an important point. My experience is that the best way to persuade people who take a different view, when there is a minority, is to entice them through reason to one's point of view, rather than to seek to denounce and create dividing lines. The latter is the wrong approach, especially on this sort of issue....

Climate Change (5 Nov 2009) has video

Greg Clark: My hon. Friend is absolutely right. The exercise of persuasion needs to happen in all parties and all groups. I dare say that the allies of the Labour party might contain one or two people whose position could be strengthened. Let me be clear: I see Copenhagen as a massive opportunity for Britain and I share the Secretary of State's optimism. The world is about to undergo a transformation in...

Climate Change (5 Nov 2009) has video

Greg Clark: It is regrettable and it is an important issue of leadership that we should lead not just in negotiations, but by example—

Climate Change (5 Nov 2009) has video

Greg Clark: The hon. Gentleman says from a sedentary position that this is a partisan point, but it is not. No one would be more delighted than I or more thrilled than the Conservative party if we were to establish leadership in CCS technology now. Communities with which I am familiar would benefit instantly from investment in it. It should be a matter of cross-party consensus that we should be in the...

Climate Change (5 Nov 2009) has video

Greg Clark: The Secretary of State says that the ETS revenues are accounted for, but he has not been able to point out in the Red Book what they are being spent on, or how much he has spent. He might want to give us the answer now: how much has been allocated? I should be happy to give way to him if he can tell us how much has been allocated and spent. Answer came there none. We will of course look at...

Climate Change (5 Nov 2009) has video

Greg Clark: My hon. Friend is absolutely right. The investments that we need will come mostly from private investors and companies. They can make those investments only if they have a stable policy environment in which they can be confident. One cause of the delay in some investments is that public policy in this country and, to an extent, around the world has added to the risk, rather than reduced it....

Climate Change (5 Nov 2009) has video

Greg Clark: I am grateful to the hon. Gentleman for that point, and I agree with his analysis. If we regard climate change as a new and additional problem, we need new and additional resources to tackle it. In that regard, I do not understand fully how the figure of 10 per cent. has been arrived at. I know that the Secretary of State wants to be rigorous, but it seems a suspiciously round number. How can...

Climate Change (5 Nov 2009) has video

Greg Clark: The right hon. Gentleman makes the exact point that I have made in my remarks. The final essential element of any outcome at Copenhagen is an urgent agreement on deforestation. Some 15 million hectares of tropical rainforest are lost every year to deforestation. To put that into context, that is an area larger than England. We must secure a deal at Copenhagen to protect the global...

Energy and Climate Change: Carbon Mitigation (Developing Countries) (5 Nov 2009) has video

Greg Clark: For more than 20 years Britain has had a record of leadership on climate change, and that leadership will be vital at Copenhagen. Everyone at Copenhagen should know that there is complete unity of purpose between us on this issue, and that we need to achieve a deal that proves equal to the challenge of climate change. Does the Secretary of State agree that the principles of such a deal are...

Energy and Climate Change: Carbon Mitigation (Developing Countries) (5 Nov 2009) has video

Greg Clark: I am grateful for the Secretary of State's answer, but we all know that international summits have their final photo calls and their leaders' handshakes booked well in advance. We all want success at Copenhagen, but the worst kind of failure would be an inadequate deal dressed up as success. Does the Secretary of State agree that one of the most important roles that Britain can play at...

Energy and Climate Change: Carbon Mitigation (Developing Countries) (5 Nov 2009) has video

Greg Clark: I am glad to say that there seems to be a strong degree of consensus between us. I agree with the Secretary of State that for a deal to be worth having, it must be consistent with what science demands, namely a global warming limit of 2°. I also believe that the deal must help the world's poorest people to cope with the effects of climate change, that it must be in addition to, not...

Bills Presented: Copenhagen Climate Change Conference (16 Jul 2009) has video

Greg Clark: It is a pleasure to meet the Secretary of State across the Dispatch Box for the second time in two days, again on a subject on which there is a broad degree of consensus between the two Front Benches about what is needed in our national interest and the interests of the world. I do not want to rehearse all the points that the Secretary of State has laid out, as they are indeed points of...

Bills Presented: Copenhagen Climate Change Conference (16 Jul 2009) has video

Greg Clark: I am grateful for that intervention. My assessment is that nuclear power is clearly a low-carbon source of energy. We discussed yesterday how we need to diversify our sources of energy generation for energy security purposes, so unless one has an objection in principle to nuclear as a technology—and we do not— given that it contributes to energy security, and is consistent with...

Bills Presented: Copenhagen Climate Change Conference (16 Jul 2009) has video

Greg Clark: That point again takes us back to yesterday's discussions. The difficulty we are in—it is one of the points I raised yesterday—is that we been through a period in which public policy has not grappled with the predictable issues, one of which is the fact that the majority of our current nuclear fleet comes to the end of its planned life during the decade ahead. It is now too late...

Bills Presented: Copenhagen Climate Change Conference (16 Jul 2009) has video

Greg Clark: I think— [Interruption.] Well, I was certainly in the Conservative party in 1997. On questions like that, I suggest that the hon. Lady asks her own Front-Bench team for factual information; I am sure they will be happy to oblige. Let me make some more progress. Copenhagen will be seen by many as a fork in the road—and to some extent it will be, because trillions of dollars are...

Bills Presented: Copenhagen Climate Change Conference (16 Jul 2009) has video

Greg Clark: Of course we agree that if we are going to have carbon budgets, they should include all sectors, but my point is that having different base years for different contributors risks undermining the clarity that is needed for a rigorous deal.