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East Asia

I am very happy to do that. When I was working on the Commonwealth games, I came to the Select Committee on Culture, Media and Sport on three occasions. The process was accountable throughout. I shared with that Committee the strengths and weaknesses of what we were attempting to do. In a project such as the one we are discussing, each phase will need new human skills and financial resources, so it is really important that from the outset we have everybody on board and that we are certain about the outcomes of each of the phases. I think that it is a very exciting project. Given what colleagues have said, I shall write to the Committee about the process so far and outline the timetable for the next few months. I shall also detail potential partners as well as public and private-sector investment and involvement in the design and use of the pavilion. Colleagues raised near-zero-emission coal projects. I was able to negotiate with my counterparts in China a memorandum of understanding and agreement to bring forward the project from 2015 to 2012. We are the leading investor in that project, which will provide a near-zero-emission coal power plant for carbon capture and storage. We want to persuade our European Union colleagues to take forward and accelerate its deployment. The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs recently announced an invitation to tender for the contract for phase 1 of that project—the feasibility and costing study. We believe that the project will cost some €400 million to €500 million. We must take a lead in that because China is putting on stream a coal fired power station every five days. The lifespan of each of those is a minimum of 40 years. As the months and years go by we must develop our capacity to share technology. There is no point in doing this work in Europe and thinking that we can save the planet, if India, and China in particular, have the capacity every week to wipe out any gains that we make because we have failed to transfer technology and work co-operatively. The deployment of this project is really important. When I was in China, I learned that there is a growing awareness, at every level, of the need to do something about the environment as the country advances socially—its working, built-up, transport and structural environment, and that of its natural resources. There was a great willingness on the part of everyone that I met to co-operate and get involved with ourselves and the European Union to tackle project work and to put together a constructive process for environmental sustainability that will enable them to expand their economy in a non-dangerous way. We cannot have a discussion with China or the wider world on sustainable global security and emissions, if we simply say at the outset, ““Stop using coal””. Too many countries will walk away. So we must see coal as an integrated part of our global energy strategy, but attached to new technologies, so that it can be burnt safely. I believe that, if we can do that, China, India, Australia, the United States and other countries that do not have the incentive now, will come on board quickly. That will not just benefit our planet: this country will be well-placed in terms of research and development, and investment, which will enable us to promote our business and commercial interests over the next few years in a sustainable way that sees us as a leader in this field.