Lord Benyon: ..., achievable and specific to our national circumstances. The first target set out in the instrument is the annual mean concentration target. This sets a maximum concentration of 10 micrograms per cubic metre to be met across England by 31 December 2040. I turn to the regret amendment tabled by the noble Baroness, Lady Hayman of Ullock. If she were able to wave a magic wand and switch off...
Caroline Lucas: ...clean air. Does he agree that the Government’s targets for PM2.5 are utterly unambitious, and that they ought to adopt the target that the World Health Organisation put forward in 2021 of 5 mg per cubic metre?
Geraint Davies: ...There are air quality problems, with 63,000 people dying prematurely each year at a cost of £20 billion. Of course, the EU wants to get to the World Health Organisation target of 10 micrograms per cubic metre by 2030, but we will leave it until 2040. The Minister’s assurance that we will do as well or better than the EU is farcical. One in four people in Britain is in food poverty, and...
Rebecca Pow: ...but achievable. We have proposed targets for 2040 because this is when our evidence shows, that although challenging, they can be achieved everywhere. The measures required to meet 10 micrograms per cubic metre everywhere by 2030, such as restrictions on solid fuel burning and reduction of traffic, would have a disproportionate effect on individuals and small local businesses. This is due...
Rebecca Pow: ...but achievable. We have proposed targets for 2040 because this is when our evidence shows that, although challenging, they can be achieved everywhere. The measures required to meet 10 micrograms per cubic metre by 2030, would include action on solid fuel burning and reduction of traffic, which would have a disproportionate effect on individuals and small local businesses.
Baroness Bakewell of Hardington Mandeville: My Lords, the environment targets were published last Friday. The pollution target for PM2.5 of 10 micrograms per cubic metre by 2040 is underwhelming. The World Health Organization guideline for PM2.5 is to reach that target by 2030. The CBI estimates that following the World Health Organization’s guidelines could deliver an annual economic boost of £1.6 billion per annum by reducing...
Geraint Davies: ...2021. I wanted them to use COP26 to enforce World Health Organisation air quality standards, but instead, a year on, the Government are saying, “Why do we not try to get PM2.5 at 10 micrograms per cubic metre by 2040?”, as opposed to 2030, which was the previous deadline. The limit prescribed by the World Health Organisation is 5 micrograms, which Europe will achieve by 2030. We could...
Therese Coffey: ...in place, recognising the importance of legislation, but also delivery. The hon. Gentleman refers to the air quality target. The only reason why we have kept what we consulted on—10 micrograms per cubic metre for PM2.5 by 2040—is because the Labour Mayor in London is failing to deliver it. I am absolutely confident that in the rest of the country it can be delivered by 2030, but that...
Huw Merriman: ...in each of the past three years is listed below. Network Rail do not hold the information for the years 18/19 and 17/18. Hardwood timber sleepers and bearers originating from Brazil: Cubic Metres Year Sleepers Bearers Total 19/20 1404 1422 2826 20/21 1506 2259 3765 21/22 1670 2026 3696 By way of context, below are the percentages of hardwood sleepers originating...
Baroness Jones of Moulsecoomb: ...held to the fire—that is quite a graphic image; I am sorry about that. Secondly, a new clause would set limit values for fine particulate matter and nitrogen dioxide of 10 and 20 micrograms per cubic metre respectively, to be attained by 1 January 2030. These would act as interim thresholds or backstop targets, depending on the progress made, and would match the latest European...
Graham Stuart: ...National Grid to strengthen its position further. Earlier this year Equinor and Centrica signed an agreement to strengthen the UK's gas supply over the next 3 winters. This will add up to 1 billion cubic metres of gas per year to UK supply – enough to provide for the annual needs of two million homes.
Màiri McAllan: ...and timber products. As much as 80 per cent of demand is being met by imported timber, which comes mostly from the European Union. Each year in Scotland, we sustainably harvest around 7 million cubic metres of timber from our forests, which is roughly the same volume of timber as we use. Scotland is fortunate to have some of the world’s most technologically advanced sawmills and wood...
Geraint Davies: ...result, when Macron was first elected and did not have many policies, he took that policy off the table and banned fracking, as we have in Wales. Fracking consists of sending millions of tonnes and cubic metres of chemically impregnated water—often hundreds of chemicals, which are carcinogenic—into the ground. Half of them come back. Half of them stay underneath so that they can...
Gareth Thomas: ...does not include new trains or a number of other things. It has been a huge success story for the UK and London. It has generated 14,000 jobs, it comprises 42 km of tunnels and it has used 13,500 cubic metres of concrete. In short—
Graham Stuart: The UK has a working gas storage capacity of 1.5bcm (billion cubic meters). This is equivalent to around 2% of typical total annual gas demand. Based on the Aggregate Gas Storage Inventory (AGSI) figures, as of Tuesday 11 October, GB storage is 100% full.
Barry Gardiner: ...or economic grounds. The investment allowance will give gas producers 91p in every pound invested in new frack pads. Warwick Business School calculates that fracking could produce 330 billion cubic metres at a maximum—about 100 billion therms. At today’s spot price, from about 20 minutes ago, that would be £289 billion. Given that the taxpayers are covering nine tenths of the...
Delyth Jewell: ...tackling climate change clear. He is an investor in oil and coal mining through Somerset Capital Management and has recently stated, and I quote, 'We need to be thinking about exploiting every last cubic inch of gas from the North Sea'. This would spell disaster for the climate and would severely undermine efforts to reach net zero. So, what I'd like to know, Minister, is what discussions...
Lord Callanan: ...my noble friend Lord Moylan. The intention of this amendment is to expand on the discussion that we had at Oral Questions earlier and to increase gas storage capacity in addition to the 1.5 billion cubic metres of current gas storage capacity that we have in Great Britain, as I informed the House. To this end, my noble friend proposes that the Secretary of State for BEIS produces a...
Lord Callanan: My Lords, Great Britain has 1.5 billion cubic metres of gas storage capacity, which equates to approximately five days of peak January demand. Energy security is an absolute priority for the Government, and therefore we welcome Centrica taking the necessary steps to reopen the Rough storage facility this winter, which is its commercial decision. Last week, the North Sea Transition Authority...
Greg Hands: ...of associated hydraulic fracturing is set out under section 4B of the Petroleum Act 1998 (inserted by Section 50 of the Infrastructure Act 2015), and involves the injection of more than 10,000 cubic metres of fluid in total, or more than 1,000 cubic metres of fluid per stage. Activities outside of this definition are not included in the pause.