Climate Change Bill [HL]

I endorse very much the principle lying behind the noble Baroness’s amendments, particularly Amendment No. 27, and in only one respect do I depart from the views of my noble colleague on the committee, the noble Lord, Lord Crickhowell. I came to the conclusion following our report, and having read more and having talked to a great number of people, that the heart of a successful Bill lies in the concept set out by the noble Baroness—and, indeed, the one that we shall discuss in the group led by Amendment No. 29. I discovered that very little is known by the Government about the present situation. As a result I have put down a Written Question asking the Government what the present indicative figures are for the purchase of carbon emissions. In a sense this amendment is the litmus test, for all the reasons set out by the noble Lord, Lord Dixon-Smith, just now. This is a very significant Bill, which will fail unless it is able to provoke very significant behaviour changes in this country. This is the area in which I depart from the noble Lord, Lord Crickhowell. I think that it matters very greatly where each individual carbon emission is saved from. If we fail to alter our behaviours and somehow, by dint of our wealth or sheer cleverness, are able to push the problem overseas and make it one that developing countries effectively solve for us, we shall have failed, and this Bill frankly will have no real reason to be on the statute book. At that point, we may as well call it the ““Carbon Emissions Trading Bill””, because that is what it will have become. I do not think that that is something that anyone in this House particularly wishes to see happen.