Climate Change Bill [HL]

My Lords, we have considered this matter since Committee to see whether we can accelerate the timetable. However, I fear that we have not been able to move as far as noble Lords would want. The question of the timing of the Clause 12 emissions statement came up in Committee, and following that I wrote to noble colleagues involved in the debate, basically giving background. Essentially, the timetables in the Bill are based on international practice. Under the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, the UK must submit an annual emissions inventory by 15 April in the second year after the year to which it relates. There are also good, practical reasons for this timetable, which is necessary to ensure the quality of the UK’s emissions data. Compiling the UK’s emissions inventory to the highest international standards requires data collection from a wide variety of sources. It is a difficult, time-consuming and labour-intensive task, but it is one that needs to be got right. Some 30 or more experts both inside and outside government are involved in the process at various points during the year. To bring forward the date of publication of the full inventory, even by a matter of weeks, would be an extremely difficult challenge. Since our previous debates, together with the independent team of external consultants who actually deliver the UK’s emissions inventory, we have looked to see whether the timetable can be accelerated. This is not being done by Defra alone. I realise there is a degree of suspicion about the first-class civil servants in my department, but they did not do this on their own. They did it along with the external consultants. They concluded that bringing it forward could not be done without compromising the accuracy and integrity of the United Kingdom’s emissions figures. I remind the House that the most recent UK emissions inventory was accepted without any adjustment by the United Nations, so there is international recognition that the quality and accuracy of our emissions figures are very high; indeed, they are among the best in the world. I would not think that anybody would want to put that at risk. It is therefore for these reasons—the UK’s existing international commitments and the time needed to ensure the quality of the emissions figures—that the final emissions report is not available until March of the second year following that to which it relates. However, I take this opportunity to reassure the House that the Government are committed to ensuring that as much information as possible on the UK’s emissions is made publicly available as quickly as possible. We will not delay unnecessarily. If the emissions figures are available, we will publish them. I shall answer some of the specific questions. I may be repeating myself in Committee, but it is worth putting on the record. Compiling the UK emissions inventory requires the collection of data from a wide variety of sources; for instance, fossil fuel combustion is the major source of UK carbon dioxide emissions. These are based on BERR’s digest of UK energy statistics—I think that for BERR, I would read DTI, but you know what I mean—which is published annually seven months after the end of the reporting year in question; that is, at the end of July. The inventory also covers the other Kyoto greenhouse gases and requires the collection of emissions data from other sources, including industrial installations, the Department for Transport, trade bodies, the Institute of Grassland and Environmental Research, the Centre for Ecology and Hydrology and the Environment Agency. Each step in the calculation process requires stringent quality control and assurance processes to ensure accurate reporting. This takes several months to complete the results for the many thousands of pieces of data produced. As I said, the UK emissions figures are then subject to rigorous crosschecking, quality assurance and quality control procedures, including verification and external peer review, before being finalised. Just in case anyone raises with me the fact that in January 2008, we have just published the United Kingdom’s 2006 emission figures, only 13 months after the year in question, we recognise the considerable interest in these figures, which is why we seek to publish as soon as possible and as soon as they are available. Headline figures are available a short while before the full UK emissions inventory is published. We therefore recently published the headline figures for the UK's 2006 emissions. However, the full emissions inventory is not available until March. That is a much fuller analysis, which sets out the UK emissions in more detail. For instance, the data released in March contains a full breakdown of UK emissions by sector and by greenhouse gas and sets out the underlying data on what activity gave rise to the emissions. A full uncertainty analysis is also presented, together with details of the improvements in the inventory made from the previous year, so the information provided in March is much more useful when assessing the overall programme in terms of the different sectors and trade emissions. The Government provide annual emission figures to Parliament under Section 2 of the Climate Change and Sustainable Energy Act 2006. Those figures are compiled on exactly the same basis as our emissions statement under Clause 12 will be. There have never been any complaints or questions raised about the accuracy of the figures that we already provide to Parliament. The accuracy and reliability of what we provide is very important; we should not put it at risk. I think that I have covered much of the detail; if I have missed anything, I will gladly come back to it.