---

Peak Oil

I thank my hon. Friend for that important question, on which I regret that I am not briefed. As it falls outside my immediate portfolio, I shall have to take advice and I undertake to write to him on that point. Let me turn for a moment to transport, which is the biggest consumer of oil in the UK economy, accounting for about 70 per cent. of total oil consumption. The Government are therefore working towards improving efficiency in the transport sector and within the 2020 EU package to achieve a target of 10 per cent. renewable transport fuels by 2020. The Government are also keen to promote the uptake of new technologies when they arrive and, as part of the recent announcements on transport strategy, we made a commitment of £250 million to deliver consumer incentives to promote electric vehicles. My hon. Friend asked in particular about carbon capture and storage. The timetable is that we expect to have a demonstration project operational by 2014 and that we want to see commercially viable CCS in this country by 2020. Indeed, there is a European programme that will assist with that. We are also considering additional policies that will take us from demonstration to deployment. My hon. Friend asked about wood fuel and whether the strategy has become a programme. First, let me congratulate him on the development of the wood fuel strategy, which is an incredibly important part of our move from the most energy-intensive uses of energy. Much work is going on around government and I hope that in due course he will be satisfied that we have moved from strategies to programmes. On my hon. Friend's point about nuclear, I think that he is very aware, as he suggested, that the legislation has been designed and passed in such a way that it does not create a Government subsidy for the industry. That has obviously been done because the Government believe that the industry will progress and that it will do so on a commercial basis. Of course, that is the assurance that the companies have given over time. My hon. Friend spoke of the difficulties of exploiting more difficult oil fields, and the Government and industry are pursuing initiatives to stimulate North sea investment and activity. We are also working to ensure that there is a stable regulatory framework that helps market participants to have the confidence to make necessary investments in the UK continental shelf. We know that additional investment will be required in all elements of energy policy to meet demand and to ensure that the lights stay on in this country, but we have to move from a high-carbon economy to a low-carbon economy. The Climate Change Act 2008 gives us the framework we need, with its target of an 80 per cent. reduction in greenhouse gas emissions by 2050, consistent with the science whereby developed countries such as ours have to make that effort, if we are to remain within the 2° Celsius limit for temperature increase. I recognise that, even as we continue to exploit our oil reserves, we must prepare for decarbonisation of our energy supply and our homes and make progress in transport. The challenge is huge, but we believe that we have the frameworks and will have the policies we need to tackle it effectively. Question put and agreed to.