---

Climate Change and Sustainable Energy Bill

I am grateful to my right hon. Friend for that intervention. I am afraid that my background is based rather more on the finance and economics of the argument. I am not an expert on engineering and technical matters—I know that some hon. Members are—so I probably will not dwell on those scenarios. I want to focus on the economic costs and the alternative ways to deal with climate change. Many hon. Members have referred to a view of the debate that is shared on both sides of the House. Everyone accepts that climate change is happening and causing a problem, but there is not universal consensus about the best way to deal with it and the way to do so most economically. Before my right hon. Friend intervened, I was making a point about the different options that are open to the Government. I look forward to the Minister’s remarks in response to the debate about the Government’s policy and the way that they have analysed their different options and the most cost-effective ways to address climate change. Certainly, their lordships’ conclusion in their report:"““We are concerned that UK energy and climate policy appears to be based on dubious assumptions about the roles of renewable energy and energy efficiency and””—" most importantly—"““that the costs to the UK of achieving its objectives have been poorly documented. We look to the Government, with much stronger Treasury involvement””—" I hope that the Minister will focus on this at least briefly in his remarks—"““to review and substantiate the cost estimates and to convey them in a transparent form to the public.””" The public could then be properly cognisant of the costs and trade-offs that they must consider when looking at energy policy. Government energy policy has been touched on at some length. When questioning the hon. Member for Edinburgh, North and Leith, my right hon. Friend the Member for Bromley and Chislehurst touched on the potential for micro-generation in dealing with our total energy capacity. The hon. Gentleman said that people have estimated that micro-generation could achieve up to 10 per cent. of generation capacity, although he would not necessarily go as high as that. My concern is that trends are developing, particularly with nuclear energy and its decommissioning—