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Climate Change Bill [HL]

I support the amendment of my noble friend in one sense, but in another sense it is the right amendment with the wrong words in it. This seems to be a reasonable conclusion for the debate we have had. The noble Lord, Lord Campbell-Savours, rightly of course, raised the impossibility of getting through to a solution in 2050 without somebody, somewhere, being damaged. The essence of the action required over the coming 40 years if we are to meet the 2050 target means an immense number of changes in society—in the economy, in our structure, in the way we source our energy, and so on. That depth of change is not going to occur without some people somewhere losing money. At the same time it is equally certain that the change will introduce huge opportunities for gain. We live in this market economy and, whatever we do, we are not going to escape from that. That means things going up and things going down. We all have to accept that. The way the amendment is worded would inhibit the flexibility of a market system. We cannot afford that. That very flexibility will be one of the great things that will make the change possible. Some interventions in the market will be required by government to produce the desired effects. That seems almost inevitable. At the same time, we need to keep this thought very much in mind in the Bill—the noble Lord, Lord May, introduced it earlier this evening and the noble Baroness, Lady Miller of Chilthorne Domer, reintroduced it—but we must not do it in such a way that it might inhibit necessary action and, more importantly, necessary change if we are to arrive at a destination in 2050.