← Back to Westminster Hall Debates
Net Zero: 2050 Target
06 June 2023
Lead MP
Kwasi Kwarteng
Spelthorne
Con
Responding Minister
Graham Stuart
Tags
EconomyTaxationClimateScotlandEnergyBusiness & Trade
Word Count: 9417
Other Contributors: 10
At a Glance
Kwasi Kwarteng raised concerns about net zero: 2050 target in Westminster Hall. A government minister responded.
Key Requests to Government:
The Minister asks the government to consider ways to incentivize investment in decarbonisation technologies through tax policies, examine the capital allowance regime, and address grid infrastructure issues. He also suggests that hydrogen could be a viable substitute for natural gas and encourages further exploration of this technology.
How the Debate Unfolded
MPs spoke in turn to share their views and ask questions. Here's what each person said:
Lead Contributor
The Energy Minister highlights the success in decarbonising power generation but acknowledges significant challenges in areas such as domestic heating and building retrofitting. He expresses concern about fiscal constraints, technological limitations, and the need to balance security, affordability, and sustainability. The reliance on natural gas for heating and the outdated housing stock present major hurdles in achieving net zero by 2050.
Barry Gardiner
Lab
Brent West
Mr Gardiner welcomed the UK's legal frameworks for achieving net zero emissions by 2050, including the Climate Change Act 2008 and the Environment Act 2021. However, he criticised the government's approach as overly market-led and technology-driven, which he argued ignores nature-based solutions and does not align with their international advocacy. He highlighted a funding gap of between £300 billion to £430 billion needed for achieving net zero targets compared to the current proposed investment of £187 billion. The MP questioned whether the UK is truly 'on track' for achieving net zero, and asked if there are plans to consider a contract for difference for an interconnection project from Morocco at the Hinkley juncture.
Caroline Lucas
Green
Brighton Pavilion
Does the right hon. Gentleman recognise that at the time when the net zero by 2050 target was agreed, so was the principle of common but differentiated responsibilities? That means that countries such as the UK that can go further and faster must do that, so we should be looking at something much closer to real zero as soon as possible after 2030, not net zero by 2050. Ms Lucas noted that UK emissions have decreased since 1990 but argued this progress is insufficient given the current climate crisis. She highlighted that when considering imported goods, emissions reduction falls to just a 23% decrease and an average of 0.7% yearly reduction. Ms Lucas emphasised the UK's reliance on fossil fuels as a key factor in high energy bills and fuel poverty, citing the need for more abundant renewables and home insulation instead.
Gavin Newlands
SNP
Paisley and Renfrewshire North
Mr. Newlands criticised the government's approach to net zero, highlighting issues with nuclear energy projects such as Hinkley Point C and Sizewell C due to their high costs and environmental risks. He also emphasised the importance of pumped-storage hydro schemes and contracts for difference in delivering renewable energy while criticising the lack of investment in upgrading the transmission system between England and Scotland leading to constraint payments of nearly £5 billion. Mr. Newlands mentioned failures such as Acorn CCS and the need for a coherent strategy on hydrogen delivery, calling out the government's record on net zero as one of failure due to inadequate mechanisms and investment. The MP inquired about grid constraints across the border, particularly in Orkney, and asked when these issues will be resolved.
Jim Shannon
DUP
Strangford
First, I commend the right hon. Gentleman for raising an important subject that we will all have to acknowledge and be involved with. It is clear that to achieve this ambitious goal, we will need more dedicated funding—I hate to say that, but it is the truth. The establishment of the net zero innovation portfolio is a good indication of the Government's priority, but does he agree that enhanced funding must follow, and must be distributed to all regions, including to Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales through Barnett consequentials?
Will he also touch on nuclear? That is an area where we have not made as much progress over recent years as we could or should have done. It is effectively carbon efficient, as well.
Kerry McCarthy
Lab
Bristol East
The MP expressed concern about the lack of a comprehensive industrial strategy for achieving net zero and highlighted issues such as grid connectivity, building homes that do not meet energy performance standards, and the hydrogen levy on bills. She also mentioned the need to address scientific warnings about breaching the 1.5°C threshold in the next four years.
Richard Foord
Lib Dem
Honiton and Sidmouth
On the point about comparing today with 2012, the UK's draughty houses make up 14% of the UK's carbon emissions. In 2012, we were insulating 2.3 million houses every year, whereas now we are insulating fewer than 100,000. Does the right hon. Member accept that the Government would have saved taxpayers millions of pounds on the energy price guarantee if they had only kept insulating homes at the rate they were in 2015? The MP notes the success in decarbonising power generation but highlights challenges with domestic heating, suggesting improvements are needed to support net zero targets.
Selaine Saxby
Con
Totnes
Saxby supports the UK Government's commitment to floating offshore wind but criticises delays in leasing rounds and port infrastructure funding, fearing missed opportunities for international investment. She raises concerns about rural housing changes, bioenergy with carbon capture and storage, and calls for a thorough independent investigation into Drax's BECCS project. Saxby also highlights the need for robust analysis of transport decarbonisation measures.
Robert Neill
Con
Croydon North
As an intervention, Sir Robert mentions the impact of coal strikes on British politics and economy in the past, supporting the lead MP's point about decarbonising power generation.
Virginia Crosbie
Con
Ynys Môn
Virginia Crosbie highlighted the importance of new nuclear build to achieve net zero and energy security, citing a McKinsey report estimating a trillion pounds in economic opportunity by 2030. She emphasised the support for nuclear power among her constituents and its potential for job creation on Anglesey. However, she noted that despite promises and initiatives such as the £120 million future nuclear enabling fund, there has been no tangible progress at Wylfa, a proposed new nuclear site. Crosbie expressed concern over the decline in UK's nuclear energy capacity and urged the Government to outline its plan for rolling out one gigawatt of nuclear reactors by financial investment decision within this Parliament.
Government Response
Graham Stuart
Government Response
It is a great pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Sir Christopher, and to listen to this excellent and important debate. I begin by congratulating my right hon. Friend the Member for Spelthorne (Kwasi Kwarteng) on securing it. Of course, I come to this debate with some trepidation, as I am facing someone who did my job previously and then, unlike me—yet, anyway—went on to be Secretary of State at what was then the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy. He made immense progress on our path to net zero and energy security. My right hon. Friend the Member for Spelthorne oversaw the publication of the landmark, world-leading net zero strategy. The independent Climate Change Committee described it as 'an ambitious and comprehensive strategy that marks a significant step forward for UK climate policy' and as 'the world's most comprehensive plan to reach net zero'. It is worth highlighting a couple of points. When we came to power in 2010, just 7% of this country's electricity came from renewables; now it is well over 40%. The issue of insulation and the number of houses being insulated was also raised. I do not know why the Liberal Democrat member who raised it, the hon. Member for Tiverton and Honiton (Richard Foord), is no longer here for the winding-up speeches, but anyway—he raised it before leaving the Chamber. It is worth noting that in 2010 the figure was just 14% and by the end of this year I expect that 50% of homes will have reached energy performance certificate level C or above, which is a huge—indeed, transformative—change, albeit one that needs to go much further and faster. My right hon. Friend the Member for Spelthorne oversaw COP26, which was the biggest summit that this country has ever hosted. It brought together 120 world leaders and over 38,000 key figures from Governments, civil society, businesses, youth and more, in order to tackle the urgent challenge of climate change. We have met all our carbon budgets to date and we are the first major economy to legislate for net zero—done under this Government. So this country is more on track than almost any other country and certainly more than any major economy on earth. That is the context that people could be forgiven for not realising was in fact the case from the rather adolescent contribution of the Scottish National party spokesman. I will leave to one side any comments that the chairman of the Climate Change Committee has made about the Scottish Government's performance in meeting their climate targets, because doing otherwise would be to descend to the level that the SNP spokesman stayed at throughout his speech. That is an excellent question—we have exceeded every carbon budget to date. We not only have the net zero strategy but we had the net zero plan on 30 March, setting out how we will do it. Of course that stretches through to 2037. Not every aspect of the way in which we will fulfil that aim has been set out to date—people would not expect them to be 14 years before that date—but we are on track. What we have to do is make sure we stay on track. I would not try to represent to the House today anything other than the fact that it is an extremely challenging business to ensure that we continue on track. That is what we are working on flat-out. Our net zero ambition needs strong public and private partnership, and we are forging these links in a number of ways. Government policy and funding commitments are already leading to real outcomes, and we are leading the world in so many ways, not just on offshore wind. The Government are committed to accelerating renewable electricity deployment. The Powering Up Britain package sets out our delivery plans for meeting those ambitions. It includes important announcements on a range of technologies, including up to £160 million of new funding to kick-start our investment in port infrastructure to deliver on our floating offshore wind ambitions, and a new solar taskforce to drive deployment of that important technology as we seek to increase that fivefold by 2035. We launched the taskforce on 25 May, getting key players from Government, industry, regulatory organisations and other relevant organisations round the table to drive forward the actions required to deliver that ambition of deploying 70 GW of domestic and industrial rooftop and ground-mounted solar by 2035, all while cutting installation costs, boosting British skills and jobs, and improving grid access to support a solar power revolution. We are looking at the Xlinks project. We have set up a team to look at it with no further commitment other than to make an assessment. It will be reporting to me shortly on that. We will look at the outline business case going forward. We are looking at it; I do not want to go further—positively or negatively—than saying that. We have heard mention in the debate of the need to improve the energy performance of homes across the country. Notwithstanding the transformation we have brought about—it is not enough—that is why we have established a new energy efficiency taskforce to drive forward improvements. That is why we are spending £12.6 billion over this Parliament and up to 2028 to support and provide long-term funding and certainty, supporting the growth of supply chains and ensuring that we can scale up delivery over time. Only yesterday I visited Octopus Energy's centre, looking at how that company is trying to design heat pumps to be cheaper to install and more efficient, so they can drive the cost down and speed up the time it takes to install them, thus making the decarbonisation of heat in homes, which is a thorny and challenging subject, more realistic and deliverable. The delivery of net zero relies on strong business action. That is why we brought together senior business and finance leaders into a new strategic net zero council co-chaired, alongside myself, by Co-op Group CEO Shirine Khoury-Haq. It includes Carl Ennis, CEO of Siemens; Ian Stuart, UK CEO of HSBC; Chris Hulatt, the co-founder of Octopus Investments, and others from UK business. The full membership reflects the cross-cutting nature of our net zero challenge. The next meeting is planned to be held in No. 10.
▸
Assessment & feedback
Summary accuracy
About Westminster Hall Debates
Westminster Hall debates are a chance for MPs to raise important issues affecting their constituents and get a response from a government minister. Unlike Prime Minister's Questions, these debates are more in-depth and collaborative. The MP who secured the debate speaks first, other MPs can contribute, and a minister responds with the government's position.