Annex 3: Letter from Mr Tim Yeo, Chair of the
Energy and Climate Change Committee
"Thank you for providing the Committee with
the European Commission's Work Programme 2015, setting out the
Commission's priorities and legislative proposals for the year.
You asked which of the proposals we consider to be particularly
important. In looking over the Work Programme I have focused on
the two new initiatives listed within the broad heading 'A Resilient
Energy Union with a Forward-Looking Climate Change Policy', these
are:
· Strategic Framework for the Energy Union;
and
· Communication on the Road to Paris —
multilateral response to climate change.
"The Strategic Framework will focus on: energy
supply security; integration of national energy markets; reduction
in European energy demand; decarbonising the energy mix and promoting
research and innovation in the energy field. It will include the
revision of the EU Emissions Trading System (ETS) as part of the
legislative framework post-2020. The Strategic Framework should
be a priority for scrutiny by the House, in particular due to
the focus on energy supply security and integration of national
energy markets, which could have serious implications for the
UK. I would hope that this will be something that the Energy and
Climate Change Committee would be able to look at in detail, subject
to time constraints and the priorities for our successor Committee
after the election. It will certainly be on the agenda for my
Committee's upcoming meetings with the Commission and other stakeholders
in Brussels. My Committee (or its successor Committee) might also
be in a position to help the House scrutinise the revision of
the EU ETS as part of the legislative framework post-2020. The
Government itself is supporting stronger reforms to make the EU
ETS work more efficiently (see DECC announcement of 20 October
2014 on establishing a Market Stability Reserve). We have recently
conducted a related inquiry into 'linking ETSs' and we hope to
publish our report on this subject in the coming months.
"The second of the two new initiatives is a
proposal to set out the EU vision and expectations in the run-up
to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC)
Conference of the Parties (COP) in Paris at the end of 2015. The
Commission has also stated in its Work Programme that it will
begin to table the legislative proposals to implement the 2030
Climate and Energy package. My Committee has scrutinised UK participation
in, and outcomes of, COP meetings throughout the course of this
Parliament and I would anticipate that our successor Committee
will continue to do so. COP21 in Paris was recently described
to us by the Energy and Climate Change Secretary as "one
of the top priorities for the next Government right from the start
through to November-December". As such, the Commission's
vision and expectations on COP21 should be of general interest
to the House.
"I hope this is helpful and would be happy to
provide further information if necessary."
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