Climate Change Bill [HL]

Again, I come before you in answering this debate on Clause 14 to refer to another clause that we have not yet reached. Clause 14 clearly separates out information on activity within the UK and activity overseas. Clause 14(2) requires the Secretary of State to report on UK emissions, UK removals, and net UK emissions for each greenhouse gas included within the budget. The terms used in Clause 14 are all defined in Clause 24, which makes it clear that they are referring only to activities which take place within the UK’s borders. The proposal to add ““domestic”” to Clause 14 would not add anything to these existing provisions, and is therefore redundant. The Bill also allows the Government to count activity overseas to reduce emissions or enhance removals towards the UK’s budgets. However, this is the case only if these activities are backed up by carbon units. The country which financed the activities is not relevant; it is where the carbon units end up which matters. Clause 14(3) already requires the Secretary of State to report on the use of carbon units during the budget period and to describe the number and types used. There is therefore already a clear separation in Clause 14 between domestic activity and overseas activity, which is the nub of the argument. We fully accept that—there is no distinction between us on this matter. However, the amendments do not add to this clear separation and, in fact, their effect is to confuse the defined terms and concepts used in the Bill. If one rewrites the clause with the amendments as they would change it, it becomes incredibly confusing and tortuous. The amendments are simply not required. There is a clear separation between the activities in he UK and overseas, and the definitions to cover ourselves are in Clause 24.