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24 Feb 2003 : Column 24—continued
Mr. Cook: I am well aware of the interest in all quarters of the House—not simply from those who
represent Northern Ireland—in the peace process and in the efforts to restore it to sufficient health to re-establish the Northern Ireland Assembly. I can assure hon. Members that, if there are developments, we will ensure that the House is kept fully informed and has a full opportunity to ask Ministers questions and to pursue the matter.
Chris Grayling (Epsom and Ewell): The subject of Wednesday's debate is clearly a matter of critical importance both for the House and for the nation. Will the Leader of the House give us an assurance that the debate will be led by the Prime Minister, and that the Prime Minister will spend the full period of time in the Chamber, so that he can hear the views of hon. Members?
Mr. Cook: I am quite confident that my right hon. Friend the Prime Minister would welcome the opportunity to spend six hours in the Chamber or, indeed, on any other single activity, but it is in the nature of government at the best of times—and especially now—that the luxury of time is not available to him. I think that most mature Members would recognise that he may have more important things to do over six hours than simply to sit in this place.
Energy White Paper
3.44 pm
The Secretary of State for Trade and Industry (Ms Patricia Hewitt): With permission, Mr. Speaker, I should like to make a statement about the energy White Paper which I and my right hon. Friends the Secretary of State for Environment, Food, and Rural Affairs and the Secretary of State for Transport are publishing today. Copies are available in the Vote Office. At the same time, my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs is publishing the Government's response to the 22nd report of the royal commission on environmental pollution, "Energy—the Changing Climate". I should also like to draw the attention of the House to the written statement on British Energy that I made this morning.
Madam Deputy Speaker, I regret as much as I am sure that you do that drafts of the White Paper have been leaked to the press in the past few days. Such action is a discourtesy to the House and I deplore it wholeheartedly.
The White Paper sets out a new energy policy that is designed to deal with the three major challenges that confront our energy system. First, we face the challenge of climate change. CO2 levels, which have already risen by more than a third since the industrial revolution, are now rising faster than ever before. The scientific evidence makes it clear that the consequences of rising global temperatures could be devastating—not only in Britain, where floods and storms could cause billions of pounds worth of damage, but even more so in developing countries where millions of people could be exposed to disease, hunger and flooding.
Secondly, we face the challenge of our declining indigenous energy supplies. We already import nearly half the coal we use; by 2006 we will be a net importer of gas and, by 2010, of oil; and by 2020, we could be dependent on imported fuel for three quarters of our total primary energy needs. As we move from being an exporter to an importer of energy, we need new approaches to reduce the risk of price fluctuations and political instability or conflicts in other parts of the world.
Thirdly, we face the challenge of keeping our energy infrastructure up to date with changing technologies and needs. Much of our infrastructure will need to be updated over the next two decades, particularly to adapt to far higher levels of renewable electricity and to accommodate rising gas imports.
Our four new goals for energy policy are: first, to cut greenhouse gas emissions; secondly, to secure reliable energy supplies; thirdly, to maintain competitive energy markets in the UK and beyond; and fourthly, to ensure that every home is adequately and affordably heated.
The United Kingdom is already on course to achieve our Kyoto commitment to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 12.5 per cent. below 1990 levels by 2008–12. Today, we are making a further commitment to cut UK CO2 emissions by 60 per cent. by about 2050, with real progress by 2020. That is the recommendation that was made by the royal commission on environmental pollution, and we have accepted it. Of course, our actions in the United Kingdom will affect
climate change globally only if they are part of a concerted international effort, so a key objective of British foreign policy in future will be to secure ambitious international commitments to cutting CO2 emissions world wide. At the heart of our new framework for energy policy will be a carbon trading system. A new Europe-wide system planned for 2005 will create a powerful incentive to producers and consumers to use less energy and to switch to lower or zero-carbon forms of electricity.The cheapest way to tackle all our energy goals is simply to use less energy, but we will need to achieve far more on energy efficiency in the next 20 years than we have achieved in the past 20 years. Building on the climate change programme, we have therefore decided to consult on an expansion of the energy efficiency commitment to run from 2005 until at least 2008, at possibly twice its current level of activity, and to work with energy suppliers and Ofgem to create an effective market in energy services; to bring forward to 2005 the revision of building regulations, with higher standards for efficiency both in new buildings and in refurbishments; to work with our European partners to agree higher standards for consumer and industrial appliances; and to set an example within Government by improving energy efficiency in our own buildings and procurement.
Last year, we introduced a renewables obligation to help to deliver our target of generating 10 per cent. of electricity from renewables by 2010. By then, the renewables obligation and the exemption from the climate change levy will be worth some £1 billion a year to the renewables industry. We believe that renewable sources of energy will increasingly demonstrate that they can achieve our goals at an acceptable cost. Our further aspiration is therefore to double renewables' share of electricity from our 2010 target by 2020. The White Paper sets out policies to achieve that by investing £60 million in new money for renewable energy projects, bringing Government investment in renewable energy up to £348 million over four years; simplifying and streamlining the planning system; taking steps with Ofgem and others to improve access by renewable generators to the electricity network; and setting out a new strategic framework for offshore wind.
Nuclear power is an important source of carbon-free electricity, but its current economics make it an unattractive option, and important nuclear waste problems need to be resolved. The White Paper does not include proposals for new nuclear power stations. However, it does not rule out the possibility that, at some point in the future, new nuclear build might be needed to fulfil our carbon targets. Any further decision to proceed with building new nuclear power stations would be made only after full public consultation and publication of a further White Paper.
Transport accounts for approximately a third of final energy use and will also play its part. We shall continue to improve vehicles' fuel efficiency and cut carbon emissions through the successful European voluntary agreements with car makers. Vehicle taxation also now encourages and rewards consumers for choosing clean, low-carbon vehicles. We shall start to make substantial use of low-carbon biofuels. That builds on the strategy
that we set out in "Powering Future Vehicles", and we welcome the engagement of industry and other partners through the new low-carbon vehicle partnership.The White Paper sets out a package of measures to support new energy technologies, including a new industry network on fuel cells and further work on the transition to a hydrogen economy. I also welcome the Research Councils' proposal for a new energy research centre.
Becoming an energy importer does not necessarily make it harder to provide energy reliability. Most other leading industrial nations have achieved economic growth as energy importers. We can do the same. Securing reliable energy supplies will be an increasingly important part of our European and foreign policy.
Last year, we secured a commitment to European energy liberalisation for industrial customers by 2004, and overall by 2007. That will improve our access to different sources of supply and allow United Kingdom companies to compete in wider markets. As well as keeping prices affordable, competitive markets create the right environment for infrastructure investment that will increase our capacity to import gas through the existing interconnector. Renewables and smaller-scale distributed generation will also help to promote greater diversity and energy security.
Coal generation provides approximately a third of our electricity, increases flexibility and contributes to diversity of supplies. The future for coal electricity generation lies in cleaner coal technologies or carbon capture and storage. We already have a programme of support for cleaner technologies, and the White Paper includes proposals on capture and storage. We propose to introduce separately an investment aid scheme to help existing pits to develop new coal reserves, when they are economically viable, and to safeguard jobs. We have already negotiated the required flexibility at European level to enable us to achieve that.
Tackling fuel poverty remains a key priority. In 1996, 5.5 million households were in fuel poverty. Today, the figure is around 3 million. Of those, 2 million are vulnerable households, comprising older people, families with children or people who are disabled or have a long-term illness. In 2001, our fuel poverty strategy set out policies to end fuel poverty in vulnerable households by 2010. Our aim is that, as far as is practical, nobody in Britain will live in fuel poverty by 2016–18.
However, eradicating fuel poverty requires action in people's homes through better insulation and heating systems. We are tackling that through programmes such as warm front and the energy efficiency commitment. We shall publish our first annual report on the fuel poverty strategy shortly. It will give hon. Members more detail on our progress.
The White Paper establishes an energy policy for the long term. For the first time, such policy puts the environment at its heart. It will give energy producers and industry the long-term market framework that they need to invest and plan with confidence. It will ensure that consumers can continue to rely on safe, affordable energy for all their needs. It will help us to play a leading role in meeting the challenge of global climate change. I commend it to the House.
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