Here are the climate-related sections of speeches by MPs during the Commons debate Energy Bill [ Lords ] (Fifteenth sitting).
14:01 Andrew Bowie (Conservative)
In the absence of UK domestic production, we would need to place much greater reliance on import markets in regions with lower emissions standards and less stringent climate policies. That would constitute carbon leakage, which is a risk to both our economic security and our aim to achieve net zero by 2050. In response to this challenge, the Government announced in February the British industry supercharger—a decisive set of measures to make Britain’s strategic EIIs more competitive and to tackle the risk of carbon leakage. That will be achieved by addressing three areas of the domestic energy system, which together contribute to higher electricity costs for EIIs here than is the case in comparable countries.
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14:13 Andrew Bowie (Conservative)
What do the new clauses do? I already covered that in my speech. The reason why we are making these changes now is, as the hon. Gentleman said, because the question of how we support these industries moving forward is concentrating the minds of many in this country, given the high electricity prices and the cost of decarbonising those industries. We believe that the supported sector will be approximately 300 firms that are the most at risk of carbon leakage due to the high industrial electricity prices.
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14:19 Andrew Bowie (Conservative)
At the risk of repeating myself for a third time, I set out in my speech exactly what we expect the levy to do, precisely why we are introducing the powers through the Bill and exactly why it is important that we support these industries, because of the high electricity cost, fluctuating market prices and cost to decarbonise.
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14:24 Andrew Bowie (Conservative)
When making any such modifications to the conditions or terms of a designated person’s gas transporter licence, the Secretary of State must have regard to various matters, including certain Government duties under the Climate Change Act 2008 and the interests of existing and future consumers of gas conveyed through pipes. The new clause also gives the Secretary of State the power to modify the conditions or terms of a gas transporter licence held by a person who is or was a designated person. That is in connection with the revocation of the person’s designation in relation to a hydrogen pipeline project.
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14:49 Andrew Bowie (Conservative)
The power in new clause 72 is specific to the unique role of hydrogen. The Gas Act 1986 regime was primarily designed around natural gas, and was established nearly 40 years ago. The possibility of using hydrogen as part of a major utility is recent by comparison. Although the Government consider it appropriate to use the Gas Act regime for hydrogen, there is inherent uncertainty in the use of a regime designed in a different era for a different type of gas. Given the highly technical and granular approach to regulation set out in the Gas Act, the issue of whether all of its relevant provisions should apply to hydrogen at scale cannot be fully tested without large-scale projects being operationalised. Therefore, any changes that may be needed cannot be put on the face of the Bill. If a problem is identified at the implementation stage, it will need to be addressed swiftly to ensure that projects are not adversely affected and that hydrogen’s role as a key technology for the UK’s net zero ambitions is not put in jeopardy.
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