Climate Change Bill [HL]

My Lords, we are pleased that the noble Lord, Lord Teverson, has introduced this amendment and we support the intentions behind it. We mentioned in Committee that the market for renewable fuels must be genuinely renewable. We are committed to the idea that steps should be taken to ensure that we do not inadvertently cause more damage to the environment when acting with the aim of stopping climate change. We hope that this sort of thing will be covered by the principal aim of the Bill, which your Lordships’ voted to include; that is, that the policy will always be bound to an overall target and an overall impact. We do not agree with using biofuels that cause more damage to the environment and contribute to climate change through deforestation. That is not compatible with the general aim of stopping global warming, regardless of the fact that using them might offset some of our emissions in terms of our targets. We need to be careful about focusing too much on emissions reduction with a specific goal in mind when the wider implication could be worse for the environment in the end. The important point underlying the amendment is supported most ardently on this side of the House. However, in the light of the general aim of the Bill, we do not see that this amendment is as necessary as it might otherwise have been, if only for the fact that it would not be in the RTF administrator’s power to ensure that the fuel meets the standard of this amendment. We would be very interested to hear further undertakings from the Minister regarding the ways in which he plans to deal with the RTFO.