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Climate Change Bill [Lords]

I thank my hon. Friend for this contribution; I could not agree with him more, because this matter is tremendously important. Much criticism of the CDM has been made, some of which is entirely justified, but the Government have worked very hard to ensure that improvements are made. We believe that the mechanism is basically sound, but, as he said, this is about the quality of the projects. Some projects have been cheap and large, which was perhaps understandable in the early days but it was very controversial in the example of the HCFC-22 programme, which has now been halted. He rightly says that we need to be concerned about the quality, but there is no conflict on this matter. A big domestic effort will be made, as I have said, but we also see the value in being able to help, through the credits system, developing countries. Of course, they have a great need to deal with their own advances and growth, and they need to bring their population out of poverty at the same time as curbing the growth in their emissions. I am grateful to the hon. Member for Wealden (Charles Hendry) for the support that he has given at this final stage of the Bill, and, indeed, at many prior stages. What is so important about this Bill is its all-party support. When I was speaking recently to US staffers—a number of people from both Houses who have been very active on energy and climate change—I was able to surprise them greatly by telling them that there was all-party consensus in this country on this issue. They obviously regarded that as an important triumph for our state. We have been bringing everyone else on board. The hon. Gentleman mentioned President-elect Obama. Of course, we have great hopes that his election will result in the sea change in US policy on climate change for which we have all been waiting for so long, and that it will make such a huge difference to the proceedings at Copenhagen. We are happy to accept the hon. Gentleman's congratulations to the Government on the UK's leadership—[Interruption.] I should have said the congratulations of all. He also invites us to take pride in this country. We can all take pride in this country and this particular achievement, and I thank him for his comments. Question put and agreed to. Resolved,"That this House agrees with Lords amendments 17A and 17B in lieu of the words left out of the Bill by its amendment No. 17."