Climate Change

Question

15:13:00

Asked by

To ask His Majesty’s Government what steps they are taking to promote action against climate change internationally following reports that 2024 was the warmest year on record globally.

My Lords, the Government are committed to driving forward action on climate change. At COP 29 we announced an ambitious target to reduce emissions by at least 81% by 2035, and we will continue to urge other countries to be as ambitious.

My Lords, last December the Environment and Climate Change Committee, which I chair, published its report on methane, a greenhouse gas 80 times more powerful than carbon dioxide in its first decade. It is quite extraordinary that fully one-third of the global warming seen to date is due to methane, but methane is short-lived and its potency reduces rapidly, so we could slow near-term warming by cutting global methane emissions. Under UK leadership at COP 26 in Glasgow, the global methane pledge was signed, thanks in no small measure to the leadership of the noble Lord, Lord Sharma, who I am pleased to see in his place.

Question!

It is coming. It committed us to work with others to reduce global methane emissions by 30% by 2030. So can the Minister justify why, in their response to the Methane: Keep Up the Momentum report, the Government ruled out publishing a methane action plan for the UK, a key requisite for global climate leadership?

My Lords, the noble Baroness will know that we welcomed the report of her committee. We have provided a full written government response, including how we will support internal action to deliver on the global methane pledge. She will also know that we have included methane policies in our delivery plan for carbon budgets and will contribute towards the global methane pledge. I think that shows decisive action, and we are going to take strong international leadership to deliver against that pledge.

My Lords, decarbonising energy systems is a key way for countries to cut their emissions. The UK, alongside other developed nations, has supported developing countries, such as South Africa and Vietnam, to set up just energy transition partnerships to mobilise public and private finance to help those nations have cleaner energy. Will the Minister confirm that the UK will continue to support those partnerships? Will he tell the House how much UK climate finance has been deployed to support them?

My Lords, I pay tribute to the noble Lord for his work in this very important area. Of course, we are committed to international climate finance and to the £11.6 billion in the current spending review. By implication, I think he is asking the question he asked my noble friend the Leader last week about the impact of the reduction in the overseas aid budget. It is too early to be able to respond to him, and clearly we also have the forthcoming SR discussions, but the Prime Minister, in announcing the decision to the House last week in relation to the defence budget, said that the UK “will continue to play a key humanitarian role in Sudan, Ukraine and Gaza, tackling climate change”.—[Official Report, Commons, 25/2/25; col. 633.]

My Lords, I watched the play “Kyoto” last week, which tells the story of the birth of the climate change strategies that we currently adopt, and particularly the role of the oil and gas companies in resisting those developments. I noted that on the following day, BP announced that it is reversing its strategy to support renewable energy and refocusing on oil and gas. What steps will the Government be taking to discuss this matter with BP and to get our national flagship energy company to reverse that decision?

My Lords, clearly, these are matters for individual companies to decide, but I say to the noble Earl that notwithstanding individual decisions made by such companies, overall, we are seeing a massive expansion in renewable and low-carbon energy throughout the world. Of course, the Paris Agreement and the nationally determined contributions that countries are making towards it will spearhead the move towards a low-carbon, low-emission economy. Whatever setbacks there may be, we must continue to work on that basis.

My Lords, do the Government agree with Bermuda and countries that are suggesting a tax on kerosene jet fuel? It is a pollutant that is currently untaxed, and the idea is that the money from that tax should go into a fund that poorer countries can access in order to set up their own renewable energy systems.

No, my Lords, I am not aware that the Government are looking at that suggestion favourably. However, the offer we made at COP 29 for an 81% emission reduction by 2035 is a very substantive offer indeed. We need to work towards that. We also have to work towards the seventh carbon budget. We received the advice on how we will do that from the Climate Change Committee only last week, and that is where we should focus our efforts.

My Lords, on this World Wildlife Day, the day that the United Nations marks the adoption of the CITES—the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species—and given that climate change is having an impact on rare and endangered species and the habitats that support them, making them rarer and more endangered, even extinct, and driving up their illegal value, will the Minister allow us to hear a little bit more about how His Majesty’s Government are working to ensure that their obligations under the CITES are met?

The right reverend Prelate is absolutely right to identify those issues. It is worth making the point that the World Meteorological Organization has recently confirmed 2024 as the warmest year on record. I also refer the right reverend Prelate to the UN biodiversity summit in Rome on 25-27 February, where key decisions were agreed on resource mobilisation, monitoring and review of the global diversity framework. On his specific question, I will follow up with a letter.

My Lords, China is top of the league table for global CO₂ emissions, accounting for roughly a third of the total. In contrast, the UK’s share is a paltry less than 1%. In the last year alone, China had more coal capacity in construction than at any point in the last decade and, as a result, China’s industrial energy prices are seven times cheaper than the UK’s. Today, respected economics professor Gordon Hughes has said that the UK Government’s drive for net zero at any cost will add £900 to annual household costs. While we play the good little boy scout on net zero, does the Minister believe that this is an equitable trade-off for the British public?

There clearly is, my Lords, because the way to get away from the volatility of the international gas market, which has had such an impact on energy prices in this country, is to move towards homegrown energy security. That is what we are designing to do with clean power. NESO has confirmed that this is the best way for us to invest our resources in energy. In relation to the global situation, global investment in renewables in 2024 reached $2 trillion, as against $1 trillion in fossil fuels. We have to combat and react to climate change, and the only way we can do this is to decarbonise as soon as we possibly can. I am proud that the UK is a global leader.

My Lords, in light of Trump’s denial of climate change, it is vital that the UK continues to provide international leadership and, in particular, support for international climate science at this time. What work are the Government undertaking to support international climate science, and particularly American scientists?

My Lords, from what I have already said, the UK is a global leader. We are working with many other countries. In relation to climate science, obviously I understand the point the noble Earl is raising. Clearly, we need to ensure that the integrity and power of climate science continue. These are matters that we will be considering over the next few months. We need to set out policies in relation to delivery of the fourth, fifth and sixth carbon budgets, and we have to respond to the advice from the Climate Change Committee in relation to the seventh carbon budget. Clearly, the whole context in which we do this is having very good climate science.