Climate Change and SustainableEnergy Bill

Our right hon. and noble Friend Lord Lawson has experience as not only Chancellor of the Exchequer but Secretary of State for Energy. He also has been serving on a Committee in the other place considering the economic effects of global warming and the best cost-effective measures that can be taken. As my hon. Friend will know, the conclusion from the Committee’s report is that we should be investing in dealing with the consequences of climate change and global warming rather than trying to spend all our resources on fighting global warming on the doubtful premise that it is all man-made and that by changing our behaviour in this country we can change the planet. That is what our right hon. and noble Friend has been considering in depth in the other place. It is with reference to the report and to the evidence taken by that Committee that he writes his article, which I commend to the House and to my hon. Friend. I hope that we will have a chance to reflect on what has happened since 24 March, when this debate began. We are now in a position in which neither my right hon. Friend the Member for Bromley and Chislehurst(Mr. Forth) nor the promoter of the Bill is present, and I join others in sending both of them our best wishes. Other things have also happened since 24 March, however. My hon. Friend the Member for Bexhill and Battle (Gregory Barker) has been to see the Norwegian fjords, and I hope that he will find time in his speech to give me a line to take on a letter from Philip Stott, emeritus professor of biogeography at the university of London. He states:"““Norwegian glaciers are especially complex, some advancing and others retreating, depending on the balance between winter snow and summer melt. From 1930 to 1990, most retreated. However, from 1963 to 2000, maritime glaciers tended to grow significantly, like the Nigardsbreen, which has advanced 280 metres in two decades.””" He concludes that"““the climate changes and…influences glaciers in complex ways””."