Climate Change and SustainableEnergy Bill

Certainly, I shall not be objecting to the Bill’s Third Reading; nor will I seek to take up so much time that we do not have a chance to hear from my hon. Friend the Member for Bexhill and Battle and the Minister. That is very much in the spirit of the way in which the Bill has been debated. I accept that it is not wholly bad, but it is based on a false premise, and that is the purpose of my remarks. Nevertheless, I hope that there will be an amendment in the other place to get rid of parts of clause 13, which I do not like at all. The Prime Minister has rightly said that"““there is no serious answer to climate change except at an international level.””" He exemplified the importance of international agreement by pointing out that"““as a result of the growth being experienced by China, we estimate that even if we shut down all the emissions in this country, it would take the Chinese economy about 12 months to make up the difference.””—[Official Report, 3 May 2006; Vol. 445, c. 966.]" He probably had in mind the fact that China is producing 562 large coal-fired power stations between now and 2012 and producing a new coal-fired power station every five days for seven years. Even the most enthusiastic supporter of the Bill would not say that it is about shutting down all carbon emissions. At its most ambitious, it is about shutting down 4.5 per cent. of total UK carbon emissions by 2050—about 45 years hence. That figure is gleaned from the microgeneration strategy report that we asked about during the earlier parts of our proceedings, which was eventually produced by the Government just before the expiry of the 18-month deadline. That report refers to the study by the Energy Saving Trust commissioned by the Department of Trade and Industry which suggested that by 2050 widespread installation of microgeneration could be reducing household carbon emissions by approximately15 per cent. We already know that household carbon emissions make up about one third of total UK carbon emissions. Fifteen per cent. of 30 per cent. is a 4.5 per cent. reduction in carbon emissions in the UK over that 45-year period. To use the example quoted by the Prime Minister, in the time between Report in March and today the Chinese economy has already made up the difference. That is the scale of what we are debating. Just in the past six weeks, China has already increased its carbon emissions by more than the amount by which UK emissions would be reduced if all the microgeneration proposed in the Bill were to come about, which would only reduce UK emissions by4.5 per cent. by 2050. UK emissions are at the moment only 2 per cent. of global emissions. Therefore the Bill, and clause 1 certainly, grossly exaggerates and oversells the ability of individual householders or Government in this country to deal with the ““problem”” of climate change and global warming.