I support the amendment in principle, but I am concerned. The noble Lord, Lord Cameron, has made some interesting points. I have been told that the biomass market, as we see it today, probably has a life of about 10 years. Investment is going into ports at both ends for the wood, as well as in shipping lines and transport from the ports. I declare an interest as chair of the Rail Freight Group. A lot of investment is going into new wagons or converting coal wagons to keep this stuff dry, because if it gets wet it is not very nice. The message in the industry is that they have got 10 years and then the nuclear power station at Hinkley point, and perhaps others, will be on stream, after which there is no guarantee of what will happen.
If that is the case and if, in the interim, the furniture industry of which the noble Lord, Lord Jenkin, spoke, is decimated, that will not be very good. We will have had 10 years of biomass but no furniture industry after that. I do not know whether that is the case. There are clearly many millions of tonnes of biomass in other parts of the world, but there are problems certifying where it comes from. Also, I am told that if it comes in pellets you cannot convert it to woodchips
and vice versa. I would hate to see an industry like that decimated just for 10 years of using local biomass which then proves to be uneconomic and the plant closes down.