Energy Bill

The right hon. Gentleman makes an important point. That is an issue that might in the end lead to derogations from European directives to keep aged power stations online or to allow more importation of gas, which would not be a satisfactory outcome. We certainly need action now, not only to promote CCS but to promote greater seriousness about renewables. For example, we need a stronger feed-in tariff for renewable energy and many other such actions to address the issue that he is talking about. The Committee on Climate Change also said in its report that the current market arrangements—in other words, those prevailing under the European trading scheme at the moment—are insufficient and leading to a perception of risk in investment in low-carbon generation. It states:""A new framework to support investment in CCS generation is required."" It also talks about reviews, as the Minister did. However, it mentions""financial support for roll-out, limits on generation from conventional coal beyond the early 2020s, and timely commencement of a second demonstration competition"." I suspect from the Minister's remarks that she may have misunderstood the Committee's advice. That does not mean that we should wait until 2018, 2019 or 2020 to do something about an emissions standard or a limit on generation. We have to give signals that we intend to take such action right now—as early as possible. In fact, the Committee is even more specific about that later in its report, when it says:""It is likely that there will be a period where CCS is deemed viable but where the carbon price is insufficiently high to cover the CCS cost penalty. In these circumstances, a successor support mechanism would be required. An early signal that such a mechanism would be introduced as appropriate should be provided to reduce risks for investors in the first set of partially fitted CCS plants."" That does not mean an early signal once we have discovered that it is too late; it means an early signal now.