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Climate Change Bill [Lords]

Consultation with the Under-Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, my hon. Friend the Member for Lewisham, Deptford (Joan Ruddock), confirms that the answer is in the affirmative. The Bill also introduces powers to establish new emissions trading schemes within the UK through secondary legislation. Trading schemes are among the most economically efficient means, we believe, of delivering emissions reductions. The first use of those powers will be to implement the carbon-reduction commitment, a mandatory cap and trade scheme covering approximately 4,000 to 5,000 large, non-energy-intensive organisations. That will save some 4 million tonnes of CO2 a year by 2020, making a significant contribution towards achieving our targets. As the House will be aware, a significant level of climate change is already inevitable, so we must ensure that we adapt to climate change as well as militate against it. The Bill will put in place a requirement to assess the risks and vulnerability of the UK and to report that to Parliament. The Government will have to lay before the House a programme of action on adaptation to address those risks and vulnerabilities. As part of this effort, all providers of public and other essential services will need to take similar steps. The Bill therefore creates powers for the Government to require service providers to assess the risks and set out the actions that they need to take in response. We will provide statutory guidance to help with that work.