This is a probing amendment and in some respects it follows on from what my noble friend has just been talking about. The opportunity to adopt a decarbonisation obligation, which would set decarbonisation targets for supply companies, arises as a consequence of a 2004 European directive, which required electricity supply companies to disclose the environmental impact—that is, the CO2 emissions and nuclear waste of the electricity that they supply to customers over a year. In 2005, this was given effect in the UK by way of an SI. Therefore, since 2005 up to the year ending 2011—this is a matter of public note—we have published information about the emissions that each of the major energy suppliers has been responsible for in a year.
I think that when the regulations were initially drafted, it was assumed that people would look at what they had emitted and try to reduce the total year by year, given the general consensus for, and desirability of, securing a degree of carbonisation. However, a deficiency in the regulations has meant that there has in fact been very little in the way of an appreciable reduction in emissions from 2005 to 2011—the period for which data are available. The UK average for the year ending 2011 is 430 grams per kilowatt hour, which is a fall of 30 grams since 2005, so one cannot really say that the existing regulation has been particularly effective in reducing the carbon emissions created by the energy generators. Indeed, for other reasons which I think have already been mentioned in respect of the cheapness of coal, in 2012 carbon intensity climbed to 530 grams per kilowatt hour because of the attractiveness of coal as an alternative to gas and other sources at that time.
This is only a probing amendment, as it obviously has not had the benefit of the hands of parliamentary draftspeople. Nevertheless, the point that I really want to make is that I do not think it would be unreasonable for the Government to consider that we ought to use this information and not let it just gather dust on the shelf. I should like to think that this information would provide us with an approach to the problem. It is pretty well spelt out in the amendment that within 12 months of the Bill becoming an Act there would be a decarbonisation obligation, which would be set by the Secretary of State after consultation with and advice from the Committee on Climate Change. In effect, it would be a target for carbon reduction for the main electricity suppliers. We talk in the amendment about the relevant suppliers. By that, I mean suppliers of a sufficient size. We are not talking about micromanaging this. We could say the big six and one or two others, and that would probably catch just about everybody.
Therefore, it is not a massive exercise but I think we are missing a trick here. We have information that is not very satisfying, and it ought to be employed to some extent. If it is not, then in some respects it almost begs the question: why bother gathering this stuff in the first place? Why bother requiring the companies to make these returns if nobody is paying any attention to them? It may well be that there are people within DECC studiously looking at these data every year. However, again, that begs the question: why are they doing it if they are not doing anything with the information?
We have an opportunity here to explore the possibility of using the information as another lever in trying to decarbonise, or certainly to reduce the carbonisation of, our electricity supply. It is a fairly modest amendment and would probably cost very little for the Government to set in motion. It would probably be a source of complaint for the relevant electricity suppliers but, given that they are always complaining anyway, one more reason for complaint will not make an awful lot of difference. It would give the Government the opportunity to take some leadership on this issue, because the previous Government and this one have been rather lax about it. We see quite clearly that virtually nothing has been achieved on decarbonisation during six years of recording. It is a fall of five grams per annum, which probably works out at just about 1.1% per annum. I am not sure that any Government would want to defend that record. I recognise that there are circumstances where there are cheaper sources of fuel, which are dirtier, but these sources will not be available for much longer.
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Therefore, whichever Government are in power—I should like to think that it will be another one—they will have no place to hide and will be collecting statistics for no purpose whatever. They should either stop collecting the statistics or make use of them. We have here a small lever that could encourage electricity suppliers by naming and shaming them in a way that we have not done before. We would be giving them a target and letting them move towards it. I know that for some people targets are a somewhat odious expression,
but in areas such as this they are not illegitimate. It would almost be for the benefit of the companies to have some degree of guidance, because they are not always omnipotent or omniscient. The performance of the past six years would tend to suggest that they have been pretty feeble on this issue.
If we were able to compare and contrast the companies concerned, and give them targets that were acceptable to the industry and to the climate change committee, we would go some way to improving what seems at the moment to be a very poor performance from them. On that basis, I hope that the Minister will look sympathetically at the principle of this amendment, if not at its wording.