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Biofuels

It is a pleasure to see you in your seat, Mr. Speaker. I congratulate my hon. Friend the Member for Brent, North (Barry Gardiner) on securing such an important debate and on making such an important contribution to the issue. Given his depth and breadth of knowledge of the subject, there is little that I can teach him; he has written the book on the subject, or, if he has not done so already, it is time that he did. I shall respond to my hon. Friend's five points, but I regret that I shall not be responding on my feet in the kind of detail that he would like. However, I promise to write to him on any points that he feels have not been covered by what I say now in response to his contribution. I, like my hon. Friend, would like to make the point that land and our natural environment play a vital role in helping the UK to achieve its own goals of decarbonising its energy production and increasing its security of supply. The conversion of biomass through a range of technologies to produce renewable heat, power or transport biofuels can cut carbon emissions and provide a valuable contribution to our energy mix. However, land is not a boundless resource, and that was the entire point of my hon. Friend's argument. Issues such as rising populations and changes in lifestyles in the developed and developing worlds mean that the demands on space are greater than ever. In the agricultural sector, in particular, we see increased requirements for food, animal feed and energy production. Scientific evidence suggests that any changes in the way that land is used or managed can have direct and indirect environmental, economic and social impacts. Of course, that is the entire point of my hon. Friend's case. Sustainability and land use considerations are therefore at the heart of the Government's policies and actions to build a competitive, low-carbon bioenergy sector. We intend to reduce greenhouse gas emissions without harming the environment, and, in doing so, we aim to maximise the benefits to biodiversity, farming and forestry, rural communities and employment. I know that my hon. Friend is less focused tonight on the renewable energy strategy that the Government produced in July, but, as he said, the Government set out a comprehensive action plan for meeting the UK's target of 15 per cent. renewable energy by 2020. It is an ambitious but, I should say, legally binding target that was agreed at European Union level, requiring an almost sevenfold increase in current renewable energy levels. So my hon. Friend accurately pointed out that the production of heat, power and transport fuels from a range of biomass feedstocks can play a key role in meeting that target cost-effectively. Analysis indicates that about 30 per cent. of the UK renewable energy target could come from bioenergy for heat and power, and, as my hon. Friend said, that equates to 4.5 per cent. of the UK's overall energy needs in 2020. I shall move on to the very important points that my hon. Friend has raised with me, but I just point out in pursuit of that renewable energy strategy the contribution made by the renewables obligation that already exists, the feed-in tariffs that will exist by April next year and a renewable heat incentive that will exist in the April beyond that. In addition, my hon. Friend mentioned the grants that are available for the installation of various types of biomass heat and power installations to help to develop a biomass supply change and infrastructure. Before I move on to the thrust of my hon. Friend's contribution, I want to mention the good work that he did as a Minister, when he launched the Forestry Commission's wood fuel strategy in March 2007. In doing so, I want also to praise the work of my noble Friend Lord Clark of Windermere, who has been the commission's chairman for the past eight years. He tells me that he is to stand down at the end of this year, and I should like to put on the record already my appreciation of his wisdom and enthusiasm and the way in which he has led the Forestry Commission and made it so much more relevant to the kind of debate that we are having tonight. The Government are taking forward several measures to ensure that increases in biomass production in this country are sustainable. That is why, in April this year, we introduced mandatory sustainable reporting on biomass under the renewables obligation, for example. We are very aware of concerns that energy crops will compete for land used for food production, so we are already, as my hon. Friend asked me to confirm, encouraging and contributing to research on the social, economic, environmental and land use effects of biomass for heat and electricity. For example, results will shortly be available on Government-funded research identifying idle and marginal land for energy crop production and developing solutions for growing crops so that their potential benefits to soil carbon and biodiversity are realised. That is the kind of work that my hon. Friend wants to encourage not only in this country but around the world.