| Previous Section | Index | Home Page |
27 Mar 2009 : Column 816W—continued
£1.5 million, Orissa Forest Sector Support Project, India.
£24 million, over a five-year period, to the Forest Governance and Trade Programme to support efforts to stop illegal logging.
£140 million replenishment of the Global Environment Facility, over a four-year period, a proportion of which will be spent on forests.
£1 million, Natural Resource Management and Livelihoods Programme, Cambodia
£10 million to the Congo Basin Forest Fund for start-up activities.
£50 million to the Congo Basin Forest Fund and £15 million to the Forest Carbon Partnership Facility, from the International Window of the Environmental Transformation Fund. In December 2008 it was announced that up to another £100 million would be made available for forests from the Environmental Transformation Fund.
£5 million for work by the Rights and Resources Initiative over a five-year period to help accelerate forest tenure, policy and market reforms.
£1.5 million to the National Forest Programme Facility over a three-year period.
£1.5 million to PROFOR (Programme on Forests of the World Bank), over a three-year period.
£1 million for work on an Economics of Climate Change Study and work low carbon development in Brazil, some of which relates to forests.
Greenhouse Gas Emissions
Greg Clark: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change what estimate he has made of the proportion of UK (a) carbon dioxide and (b) other greenhouse gas emissions arising from (i) domestic heating, (ii) domestic air conditioning and (iii) domestic cooking appliances in each of the last 10 years. [266632]
Joan Ruddock:
The proportion of total UK carbon dioxide emissions arising from domestic heating (space heating and water heating combined) and cooking has remained more or less constant over the last 10 years (from 1997 to 2006, the latest year for which data is available). Domestic heating represents between 18 and 19 per cent. of total UK carbon dioxide emissions, while domestic cooking represents 1 per cent. of total UK carbon dioxide emissions. Carbon dioxide emissions from domestic air conditioning are currently extremely small (estimated to be less than 0.1 million tonnes of carbon dioxide per annum which equates to around
0.02 per cent. of the UK total CO2 emissions). However, demand for air conditioning is expected to double by 2020. We have no estimates of other greenhouse gas emissions arising from these sources although these are likely to be very small as a proportion of total UK emissions.
Housing: Insulation
Dr. Tony Wright: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change what assistance is available from his Department to enable households with solid walls to improve the insulation of their houses. [263962]
Joan Ruddock: The primary source of assistance for the insulation of solid walled homes in Great Britain is the Carbon Emissions Reduction Target (CERT), which requires energy suppliers to meet targets by encouraging households to take-up energy efficiency measures. The suppliers are free to decide how to meet their targets, and will tend to focus on the most cost-effective measures, such as loft and cavity wall insulation.
We recognise that the high up-front cost of solid wall insulation makes it difficult for suppliers to justify the investment when more cost-effective measures are available. We have therefore introduced specific incentives to help improve the financial viability of these measures, with a particular focus on solid-walled homes which are off the gas grid. Overall, suppliers installed around 40,000 solid wall measures from April 2005 to March 2008, mostly in partnership with social landlords, and around 80,000 heating measures.
There is a particular focus on improving the energy efficiency of hard to treat properties in the package of consultations published on 12 February. The consultations can be accessed via the Department of Energy and Climate Change website:
We also continue to assess innovative products, including solid wall insulation, for inclusion in the Warm Front scheme—the Government's main fuel poverty programme in England.
Low Carbon Buildings Programme
Charles Hendry: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change what assessment he has made of the effect on levels of employment in the UK renewables sector of the withdrawal of the Low Carbon Buildings Programme phase 2. [254407]
Mr. Mike O'Brien: The Low Carbon Buildings Programme (LCBP) phase 2 has not been withdrawn but closed to new applications for solar PV technology only. Solar thermal, biomass, ground source heat pumps and micro wind technologies continue to receive support through the programme. We believe that current incentives and wider measures to support small scale onsite energy technologies should continue to support the development of the sector.
LCBP Phase 2 is due to close at the end of June 2009. To date we have committed £33.2 million of the £50 million budget to support microgeneration installations in schools, public sector and local community groups. Although
£33.2 million has been committed only £8.3 million has been spent. Much of the work is still to take place over the next 12 months leading up to the introduction of feed-in-tariffs in April 2010 and the renewable heat incentive in April 2011. We are also considering what further support can be made available in the intervening period.
Members: Correspondence
Mr. Brazier: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change when he plans to reply to the letters of 5 November 2008 and 9 January 2009 from the hon. Member for Canterbury, sent on behalf of a constituent, Mr Scott Collins. [264429]
Joan Ruddock: I replied to the hon. Member on 25 March 2009 and apologise for the long delay, which was due to the departmental reorganisation.
Power Stations: Carbon Emissions
Mr. Ancram: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change what steps he is taking further to reduce carbon dioxide emissions from fossil fuel-fired power stations. [265441]
Mr. Mike O'Brien: The EU ETS sits at the centre of our long term strategy to deliver progressively lower emissions from electricity generation over time. From 2013, the EU ETS cap on carbon emissions will reduce by 1.74 per cent. of 2005 emissions each year, delivering an overall reduction of 21 per cent. below 2005 verified emissions by 2020. Also from 2013, all emissions allowances will be auctioned to the power sector in the UK which will provide further incentive to the sector to reduce emissions.
DECC supports innovation in carbon abatement technologies and has launched one of the world's first full scale carbon capture and storage demonstration projects. In addition, the DECC Environmental Transformation Fund recently announced a £15 million joint call for proposals with the Technology Strategy Board and Northern Way to demonstrate component parts and pilot scale projects on carbon abatement technologies.
The Government are also supporting the wider deployment of CCS through the introduction of the Energy Act 2008 which includes one of the first legal regimes in the world to regulate the long-term offshore storage of carbon dioxide deep underground.
Warm Front Scheme
Greg Clark: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change how many Warm Front installations took (a) more than 30, (b) more than 60, (c) more than 90, (d) more than 120, (e) more than 150 and (f) more than 180 working days from survey to completion of the work in each of the last five years. [257474]
Joan Ruddock: Warm Front installation timescales are not recorded in the periods requested. They are recorded against the timescales put in place by the Department at the inception of the Scheme.
These timescales are detailed in the table, which provides information from the inception of the current phase of Warm Front in 2005.
| Warm Front Installations | ||||
| Percentage | ||||
| 2005-06 | 2006-07 | 2007-08 | 2008-09 | |
International Development
Africa: Agriculture
Annette Brooke: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development pursuant to the answer of 26 February 2009, Official Report, columns 1007-8W, on loans, if he will make an assessment of the likely effects on his Department's assistance programmes for smallholders in (a) Malawi and (b) Africa of recent increases in the price of fertiliser. [267362]
Mr. Michael Foster: The Department for International Development (DFID) is supporting a farm inputs subsidy programme in Malawi through our £22 million per annum budget support as well as a further £20 million commitment for agriculture over four years (2007-11). These efforts have delivered affordable seed and fertiliser to 1.5 million smallholder families, and led to a strong harvest for a fourth successive year. As a result, Malawi's economic growth reached 8.7 per cent. in 2008, and food security has significantly improved. For example, in the current lean season, 670,000 people are at risk of hunger; compared to 5 million in 2005. Despite the high fertiliser prices during 2008, we expect that our support will still help the same number of people.
Increases in fertiliser prices were a major challenge for Africa's farmers in 2008. At a global level, prices reached a high of almost $900 per tonne in late 2008 but the price of urea has now fallen to around $300 per tonne. However, the availability of foreign exchange, which has become even scarcer in the current economic downturn, means that fertiliser use will still be limited in many countries.
Africa: Peacekeeping Operations
Dr. Fox: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development how much his Department has contributed to the Africa Programme of the Conflict Prevention Pool in each year since 2001. [265125]
Mr. Michael Foster:
From 2001 to 2007, the UK Government funded its conflict related programme activity through the Global Conflict Prevention Pool (GCPP) and Africa Conflict Prevention Pool (ACPP), owned and managed tri-departmentally by DFID, FCO and MOD. By bringing together the UK Government's
development, diplomatic, and defence interests and expertise this ensured a coherent response to conflict prevention. In 2001, all three departments contributed funds to form these pools (£2.1 million disbursed by the FCO; £14.4 million by DFID and £3.2 million by MOD), but in subsequent years funds have been allocated directly from HMT. The Conflict Prevention Pool (CPP) was set up in April 2008 as a successor to the former Global and Africa Conflict Prevention Pools, focussing activity through regional programmes where the UK can have its biggest impact, and through thematic programmes to deal with cross-cutting conflict prevention issues. The CPP commands a total of £112 million in 2008-09 of which the Africa Conflict Prevention Programme is forecast to spend £68 million. From 2001-02 to 2007-08, HMG has spent approximately £341 million through the Africa Conflict Prevention Pool. This is broken down by year in the table:
| £ million | |
Burma: HIV Infection
John Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development how much has been allocated by the Three Diseases Fund to tackle HIV/AIDS in Kachin state, Burma, since the fund was established. [265884]
Mr. Michael Foster: Since it was established, the Three Diseases Fund has allocated US$2,272,000 to HIV/AIDS projects in Kachin State, Burma.
Burma: Overseas Aid
John Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development through which United Nations organisations his Department channels funding for Burma-related aid and activities; and how much was channelled by his Department through each such organisation in the last 12 months. [265885]
Mr. Michael Foster: During the 2008-09 financial year, the Department for International Development (DFID) has channelled funding for Burma through UN organisations as follows:
Cyclone Nargis emergency response:
Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO)—£2,271,179
International Labour Organisation (ILO)—£590,810
UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF)—£750,000
UN Development Programme (UNDP)—£1,850,000
UN Habitat—£250,000
UN Habitat and UNDP jointly—£600,000
UN Office for the Co-ordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA)—£300,000
World Food Programme (WFP)—£12,000,000
World Health Organisation (WHO)—£250,000.
UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF)—£1,560,000
UN Development Programme (UNDP)—£1,569,565
UN Office for Project Services (UNOPS), for the Three Diseases Fund—£4,500,000
UN Office for the Co-ordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA)—£550,000
World Food Programme (WFP)—£350,000.
| Next Section | Index | Home Page |