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Energy White Paper

My Lords, I am grateful to my noble friend for his intervention. It is clear that we have a stretching renewable target, which we should tackle. The Commission has to bring forward detailed proposals on how that will be allocated to individual member states, depending on their starting points. Obviously, we will do a lot of work on that. From where we stand, the most important issue is reducing greenhouse gas emissions, which is our overarching target in terms of reducing them by 60 per cent by 2050. There must be a central role for the European Union Emissions Trading Scheme and we must have a robust price for carbon. Within that overall framework, we have a major role for renewables as well. My noble friend is right that the Severn barrage is mentioned in the White Paper. In terms of electricity generation, it would provide something like 5 per cent of the electricity needed for this country should we develop it. There are arguments for and against. In generation and renewable terms it would clearly be significant. We need to look at environmental issues closely, including EU regulations, the habitats directive and the impact on wildlife. The Sustainable Development Commission is undertaking a study on tidal and wave power. As part of that, it will look at the Severn barrage. It will report in September and we will take careful note of its report.