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Energy: Low Carbon Transition Plan

My Lords, I thank the Minister for repeating the Statement made in another place earlier today, and for making available an advance copy of this lengthy Statement. It is a challenge to absorb its contents, but noble Lords will have also known much of it from the press coverage over the weekend and throughout the week, as well as the now-obligatory "Today" programme interview. We welcome the Statement as an important declaration of intent on the Government’s part in tackling climate change and carbon emissions, as well as seeking to bring together something that could be tagged as an energy policy. That is long overdue, but when the Government have provided us with 15 Ministers in 12 years, it is not surprising that they have found it difficult to find a coherent voice in this key policy area. Do we not have the lowest percentage of energy generated from renewables within the EU? We have no argument with the Government in seeking to reduce carbon emissions by 34 per cent by 2020—or, if we take today’s figures, by a more modest 18 per cent at current levels. It will be the minimum needed to be on course for the 2050 target of 80 per cent. I note the climate change committee’s welcome, but point out that it is seven months since the committee published its report to which this is the Government’s response. It is appropriate that the Statement starts with the Government’s own role. The Sustainable Development Commission’s 2008 report stated how variable the different departments are in achieving energy efficiency and performing to target. The Government should be taking an exemplary role in this matter, and they need to demonstrate that they are serious in their own endeavour if they expect business, households and consumers to do the same. There are too many areas where the message from the Government is mixed, or where they have failed to develop policies that reinforce this drive. The Minister will remember that, when discussing the climate change legislation, we wanted to include a provision that certain statutory instruments complied with the purposes of the Climate Change Act or furthered its purpose. This move was initially welcomed and accepted, the Minister in this House showing commitment to the cause, only for it later to be disregarded. The Statement promised 6 per cent cuts in emissions from agriculture and waste. Can the Minister further elaborate on how this will be done without passing greater burdens on to farmers, to whom we look to provide more of the nation’s food? What funding stream do the Government intend to provide for this? A substantial reduction of 14 per cent in transport emissions is likely to be heavily dependent on government funding. How will this be paid for? The Statement mentions electric cars. This simply illustrates one of the many commitments the Statement contains without declaring how it will be funded. Parliament and people are in the dark on public expenditure as, unprecedentedly, the Autumn Statement will not be delivered this year. It is not unreasonable to ask where the funding is coming from. I do not doubt the need for the Government to set these targets, but the delivery of any government strategy depends on an accurate assessment of the cost involved within the public sector and from businesses, households and consumers. Without this, the Statement is merely a statement of good intent, rather than a comprehensive programme of action. Of course, the Government are right to recognise the role of renewable energy. In a pre-Statement interview on the "Today" programme, the Secretary of State emphasised the need for land-based wind generation, and acknowledged that it was not enough simply to rely on offshore generation. How do the Government intend to use the planning system to deliver on this account? It has been estimated that the extra turbines will pass on a possible extra cost of £200 per annum to households. It is also estimated that the current rate of construction of these turbines is one a week. Does the Minister appreciate the physical challenge that this presents? The Statement mentions the Severn tidal schemes. Have the Government worked out how to deliver tidal energy from the Severn estuary without damaging it? How dependent is this programme on the delivery of the strategy? I hope the noble Lord will get the drift of my argument. Much of what the Statement contains is good and worthy stuff, but without the reassurance that the Government are prepared to deliver, it remains primarily aspirational and lacks the counterbalance of a full financial impact assessment. The Statement talks about building more nuclear power stations. However, we will have to wait until the autumn for the national policy statement on nuclear energy, although it is obviously a key part of the strategy. In the mean time, the Government still have no plan regarding what to do with existing nuclear waste. The strategy announced today can hardly be comprehensive if it does not include this. The Statement also announces that it will make changes in the energy supplies between now and 2020 to make it easier for investors to turn low-carbon projects into reality. How do the Government plan to do this? Will it involve further financial incentives or is it going to depend on an easing of planning restrictions. It would not do the Statement any injustice to suggest that it reads like a wish basket. For example, the noble Lord introduced the concept of smart meters into the Energy Act last year and it appears in this Statement. What progress is being made to develop this plan? How far have the Government got in discussing this with energy providers? Likewise, why have the Government resisted the concept of fixed feed-in tariffs? A debate in this House led from these Benches provided for this in the Energy Act when the Minister finally conceded the power of our argument. In short, while we welcome the Statement and the White Paper, for it aspires to be on the side of the angels, such virtue has a price and the Government in the Statement have been coy not only on how big the costs will be but, more critically, on where the funding is coming from and who will end up paying. Despite the Statement promising that there will be no increase in household fuel bills by 2015, I expect most people will be in a family household that will have to pick up the bill.