Climate Change and SustainableEnergy Bill

Indeed. The number of provisions in the Bill has expanded, and I am grateful to my hon. Friend the Member for Edinburgh, North and Leith for accepting a numberof clauses from my private Member’s Bill, the Management of Energy in Buildings Bill, which unfortunately did not reach this stage. We now have a Bill that is comprehensive, wide-ranging and far-sighted in its proposals for the development of microgeneration and for the role that microgeneration might play in our domestic and commercial energy supply, and in the vital task of combating climate change while ensuring that the lights stay on. There is an alternative way of expressing the statistic in the Energy Saving Trust report, which the hon. Member for Christchurch (Mr. Chope) regrettably underplayed. The report says that 40 per cent. of the UK’s energy supplies could be provided by microgeneration within 40 years, which is an enormous amount to contemplate. I hope that the Bill will pave the way to that kind of development, through targets, community developments, changes in planning regulations and a variety of other devices. A large number of important contributions have been made to this Third Reading debate and, importantly, most right hon. and hon. Members across the Chamber have agreed on the direction and content of the Bill. The right hon. Member for Bromley and Chislehurst (Mr. Forth) is, unfortunately, also unable to be here today. In his brief contribution to the beginning of the debate on 17 March, he said, with what I might call an air of foreboding, that there was"““a cornucopia of important issues that we can and should explore on Third Reading””.—[Official Report, 17 March 2006; Vol. 443, c. 1778.]" I am sure that hon. Members will agree that we have explored a cornucopia of important issues, and that we have done so in a way that has united our endeavours on the Bill rather than divided them. It is fair to say that, just a few years ago, the subjects covered by the Bill would have been regarded as unfashionable, unfamiliar or outlandish. Terms such as ““dynamic demand””, ““sustainable buildings””, ““community sustainable energy””, ““renewable heat””and ““green certificates”” have come into thepublic consciousness—and, indeed, legislative consciousness—only relatively recently. As my hon. Friend the Minister has said, however, they are now moving into the mainstream, and I hope that the passage of the Bill will aid the process still further. These technologies and processes can make a real difference both in keeping the lights on and in leading us to a new, sustainable low-carbon economy. They also change the way in which people see their energy use. Through such technologies and processes, people really take ownership of their energy use and generation. In considering that climate change is a global challenge and an individual obligation, as the hon. Member for Basingstoke (Mrs. Miller) reminded us, perhaps hon. Members will consider the role of microgeneration in helping to deal with a challenge that I hope all of them will take up—that of reducing their own personal carbon dioxide emissions by25 per cent. over five years. That can be achieved by, among other things, the domestic installation of microgeneration. I commend the Bill to the House, and I hope that I am not too optimistic in expressing the view that it will receive unanimous support in the Chamber. Question put and agreed to. Bill accordingly read the Third time, and passed.