Climate Change Bill [HL]

My Lords, I beg to move that the House do agree with the Commons in their Amendments Nos. 1 to 6. I shall also speak to a number of other amendments that are related to this group. Amendment No. 1 removes Clause 1, the purpose clause, because we do not think it works in practical terms. Having any measure based on global temperatures means that what we have to do is dependent on what happens elsewhere in the world. While we are fully committed to taking action at home, emission reductions in the UK alone cannot deliver this objective. It is only though global action that we can maximise the chance of limiting the rise in global temperatures to 2 degrees centigrade. In future, there may be a different way of framing the level of global ambition. To place an explicit reference to the 2 degrees centigrade goal in the Bill would be inflexible and might become irrelevant, especially when one considers the long-term framework that the Bill’s targets and budget establishes. Moreover, the early advice from the shadow Committee on Climate Change made a specific link between 2 degrees centigrade and the level of the 2050 target, which underpins every other action required of us by this Bill. The committee’s advice stated that the target to reduce the UK’s emissions by at least 80 per cent is a reasonable contribution to a global strategy of cutting global emissions by around 50 per cent by mid-century. Reductions on this scale are required to limit the expected global temperature increases to around 2 degrees centigrade above pre-industrial levels. In proposing to accept the committee’s advice on the level of the 2050 target, we therefore already intend to set our 2050 target in a way that would be consistent with the 2 degrees centigrade goal. We do not, therefore, consider a specific purpose clause to this effect to be necessary. Amendment No. 2 would increase the level of the 2050 target to a reduction of at least 80 per cent. This follows the early advice of the Committee on Climate Change, which I announced we would accept in my Statement to the House on 16 October. By ensuring that the UK’s long-term target is based on the most up-to-date science and on independent expert analysis, we will continue to provide leadership within the international debate. This is particularly important in the context of negotiations for a global and comprehensive agreement in Copenhagen in 2009. Clause 3 provides a power for the Secretary of State to amend the 2050 target, based either on significant developments in scientific knowledge about climate change, or significant developments in European or international law or policy. Currently the developments in scientific knowledge are those since the 2000 report of the Royal Commission on Environmental Pollution. We consider that it is no longer appropriate to refer to the royal commission’s 2000 report as our starting point, because the committee has provided advice on the basis of the latest scientific thinking, which we have accepted. Instead, we consider that the passing of this Act should be the reference point, and we propose Amendment No. 4 to effect this change. Amendments Nos. 3, 13, 14, 15, 16, 19, 20 and 21 are also in response to the committee’s advice, and have the effect of including the other Kyoto greenhouse gases in the Bill’s targets and budgets. Amendments Nos. 5 and 6 concern the level of the target for 2020. As noble Lords will know, on 1 December the committee will provide its formal advice on the implications for the 2020 target of their advice on the 2050 target. We do not think that a change should be made to the 2020 target before we receive this advice, especially as we closely linked the committee’s advice to the first three carbon budgets. We want to ensure that we get the 2020 target right. Amendments Nos. 5 and 6 would therefore provide for the 2020 target to remain as it currently is; that is, a 26 per cent reduction in CO2 emissions. This recognises that a 26 per cent reduction target that which includes all greenhouse gases, is not as demanding as a target of 26 per cent that includes only CO2. We accept that we will have to amend the target soon to account for the inclusion of the other greenhouse gases. As I have said, we simply do not consider it appropriate to make a change to the 2020 target until we have received the committee’s advice on this issue. Amendments Nos. 8 and 10 revert to the Bill’s original drafting, and place the responsibility for publishing the report on proposals and policies, and sending copies of the report to the other national authorities, with the Secretary of State, rather than the Prime Minister. I understand that the House has been through this matter in some detail at earlier stages of the Bill, so the arguments may be familiar. The Government remain of the view that placing duties on the Prime Minister is unnecessary and inappropriate. As is conventional in UK legislation, the Bill places a number of duties on the Secretary of State. By this, the law means ““one of Her Majesty’s principal Secretaries of State””, which has the advantage that legislation does not have to be amended when the machinery of government changes, and that one Secretary of State can act for another should it be necessary. The doctrine of collective responsibility means that this is the established mechanism to place a duty on the Government as a whole. Thus, the responsibilities in the Bill—including those for meeting the targets and budgets and for producing reports—are not limited to the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change. We therefore think that it is better to revert to the wording in our amendment. There is no question of our collective commitment to tackle climate change. The fact that we have a new department, which has been set up precisely to create a new focus on tackling climate change, is an indication of that. I assure noble Lords that my colleagues and I, working with the Prime Minister and the rest of Government, are committed to finding sustainable, cost-effective solutions to the twin challenges of reducing emissions and ensuring secure supplies of safe and affordable energy. Moved, That the House do agree with the Commons in their Amendments Nos. 1 to 6.—(Lord Hunt of Kings Heath.)