Climate Change Bill [HL]

moved Amendment No. 224: 224: Before Clause 62, insert the following new Clause— ““Secondary legislation No secondary legislation, including any order or regulations, may be made under this Act unless it is necessary for the proper operation of the Act and is compatible with the principal aim of the Act.”” The noble Lord said: My Lords, I am not sure why this amendment finds itself in this position on the Marshalled List, for it is a general purpose clause which covers wide-ranging elements of the purpose of the Bill. Indeed, it refers to the primary aim of the Bill, but there it is. I am pleased to have to the opportunity to speak to it. The amendment places a duty on the Secretary of State such that all secondary legislation that comes from the powers created in the Bill are compatible with the primary aim of the Bill: stopping climate change. Your Lordships decided to include a specific primary aim in the Bill, and that primary aim is the anchor of this further amendment. This is very much a framework Bill. Much of the efforts that will be made to reduce emissions and stop global warming will come through secondary legislation, much of which will be highly specific. It is of the utmost importance then that all regulation coming from the Bill be tethered to its primary aim. We have spent a long time examining this Bill: eight days in Committee and we are now on the fourth day of Report. I believe that our scrutiny has been worthwhile. However, when it comes to putting the Bill into practice, when the orders start being made, we need to have some way to ensure that the overall goals that have energised our debates on the Bill are still considered with the same force. We want to avoid situations where we are failing to see the forest for the trees and sometimes contributing more to climate change through our actions than stopping it. The case of biofuels is the famous example— denuding entire landscapes of forests in the interests of producing carbon-neutral fuel. The amendment aims to stop that sort of thing from happening. In practice, it would put pressure on the Secretary of State to consider carefully all of the implications of each statutory instrument and its potential effect on the environment. I know that that should happen now. However, this amendment seeks to place a guarantee in the Bill that every effort made is an effort in the right direction. We want to take out the room for excuses and ensure that real progress is made to stop climate change. I beg to move.