The government's Energy Bill falls well short of what's needed

Wera Hobhouse is the Liberal Democrats’ Climate Change and Transport Spokesperson and MP for Bath 

The biggest threat facing humanity is the climate emergency. The entire energy system must be transformed. But we should not see this as a moment to step back from but an opportunity to embrace. The Energy Bill could truly signify the start of us moving into our ambitious and positive green future. Yet, as is typical with this government, their proposals in the Bill fall well short of what is required. This Conservative government looks once again set to continue to protect their friends in the oil and gas industry while hard-working people on direct debits have seen their annual bills almost double.

The Energy Bill, which has just left committee stage in the Commons, has significant and glaring gaps that need to be filled. In its current form, the Bill ignores major environmental concerns such as the opening of new coal mines and putting an end to methane flaring and venting. There is no excuse for this ignorance.

It is not like Ministers have not been warned. The Liberal Democrats passed an amendment to the Energy Bill in the Lords, promising to ban new coal mines. A basic step to take if we are at all serious about reaching net zero. Less than two years ago, the government claimed to be leading the charge to end coal usage, yet they soon gave the go-ahead to the Cumbria coal mine, a clear path to more fossil fuel usage and a blatant disregard for our climate commitments. If the government wants to claim any credibility on climate action, they must ensure that the ban on new coal mines remains a part of the Bill. Unsurprisingly, however, when I asked the Secretary of State to support this amendment last month, he made no such commitment. Instead, he told me that “Conservative Members believe in getting on and doing things.”

After this week’s Climate Change Committee (CCC) report, this is clearly not the case. The report focused on emission reductions and found damning conclusions that only 20% of the UK’s progress against key indicators, and less than 10% of sectors are on track to meet the 2030 NDC and the Carbon Budgets. Additionally, the committee found that not a single plan in cross-cutting areas is on track. Across the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero itself, seven priority recommendations remain unaddressed. Perhaps one of the most shocking revelations of the report was that if the UK is to stay on track to meet the 2030 NDC and the Sixth Carbon Budget, we must increase the rate of emissions reduction from 1.2% to 4.7%. To me, this does not indicate that “Conservative Members believe in getting on and doing things.” Conservative Members instead believe in delaying progress. 

The government’s obsession with nuclear and new oil fields is blinding them to the fact that community energy provides cheaper, greener power and distributes benefits locally. The community energy sector has the potential to be 20 times bigger by 2030, powering 2.2 million homes and saving 2.5 million tonnes of CO2 every year. 77% of people say that they would support a new onshore wind farm being built in their area, too. It is clear to our UK communities that renewables are the solution to our energy crisis, but this government continues to oppose onshore wind and solar on dogmatic grounds. The Bill does not even contain provisions to properly roll out solar power, and the effective ban on onshore wind remains in place. It is time for the Conservatives to put people and our planet first, and that is exactly what us Liberal Democrats are doing.

It is damning that the Energy Bill also fails to address the urgent need to cut flaring, venting and leakage of methane from oil and gas platforms. Methane is a potent greenhouse gas, with 80 times the warming effect of CO2, and accounts for a staggering 13% of global greenhouse gas emissions. The UK has signed a global pledge to cut methane levels by 30%, but the Conservatives are yet again failing to take meaningful action. 

We Liberal Democrats recognise this problem, and are taking action to solve it by tabling an amendment to the Bill that will ban flaring and venting by 2025. If enacted it would dramatically reduce methane emissions. The Environmental Audit Committee and the government-commissioned independent review of net zero both support this action, and it is high time the Conservatives started listening to the experts and put the planet before corporate interests.

Ignoring this could seriously compromise the UK’s international climate agreements. At COP26, the UK signed up to the Global Methane Pledge: an international agreement to target a reduction of at least 30% in global methane emissions by 2030 compared to 2020 levels. However, there is no UK-specific commitment to meet the Pledge at a domestic level. 

Playing our part in the global fight against climate destruction is a human rights issue too. The UN International Organisation for Migration has cited estimates of as many as 1 billion environmental migrants in the next 30 years, while more recent projections point to 1.2 billion by 2050, and 1.4 billion by 2060.

We have got a lot of work to do if we are going to protect consumers, the global population and get to net zero. This Bill may have been improved in the Lords thanks to our amendments, but they risk being struck off as it goes through the Commons. The Conservatives talk a good game when it comes to climate action, but their rhetoric does not survive contact with reality. We need real action to protect our planet and our people, and that is exactly what the Liberal Democrats would deliver.

Image credit: Simon Walker / Number 10 – Creative Commons

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