My Lords, I shall speak to my Amendments 15 and 18, and to Amendment 72 in the name of the noble Lord, Lord Oxburgh. I am very pleased that the noble Lord, Lord Foulkes, mentioned the President of China because tomorrow we have to interrupt an Economic Affairs Committee meeting. I suggested that we might ask the President to be a witness on some of these issues, but unfortunately I do not think that that got anywhere.
I welcome a number of the government amendments in terms of their nod to the environment. My amendments look to try to place the OGA and this part of the Bill in the context of the broader climate change and environmental debate. We do not have those amendments completely right. In fact, I rather prefer the amendment of the noble Baroness, Lady Worthington, although I am not sure how far she will press it. As I said previously, although the OGA needs to focus on its prime areas in doing its day-to-day business, it needs to operate within this broader environmental area, as does the whole regime.
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Certainly, in the days of the coalition Government, there were four aspects of energy policy to which both parties involved were fully committed. One was low carbon, partly renewables but also nuclear energy. That just about staggers along on the nuclear side, as we have discussed. The renewables have suffered a number of quite severe setbacks over this year since the election. Secondly, there was energy efficiency, which as we all know satisfies all three elements of affordability, decarbonisation and energy security. Certainly, the Green Deal needed changing a lot but to opt out of that was most unfortunate. However, taking away the zero-carbon homes trajectory for 2016 was an act of gratuitous violence on a low-carbon agenda. Thirdly, the carbon tax floor has now been frozen by the Treasury. I think it rather enjoys the revenue coming from it, although that has to be combined with the reimbursement process for high-intensity users. Fourthly, there was carbon capture and storage. That is why this measure is so important in making sure
that at least that fourth part of the energy strategy goes forward. That is why I have added my name to the amendment of the noble Lord, Lord Oxburgh.
As I said on Second Reading, I became rather sceptical about carbon capture and storage because, since I have been in the House, it has been very difficult to make progress on it. Although the Government say that the fact that Drax has withdrawn from the White Rose project is not fatal, as the facilities can still be used and the other investors are still there, it seems to me to make the task even more difficult. This measure provides a key way forward in delivering a carbon capture and storage strategy that investors, industry and people involved in the energy sector more generally need to provide them with certainty and a trajectory for the future.
The noble Lord, Lord Howell, mentioned not picking winners. I agree with that in principle. Indeed, contracts for difference were set up in that way. However, the whole area of decarbonisation and decarbonisation targets is technology neutral. That is why I am particularly disappointed that we were given to understand in Committee that the Government would not seek to implement the decarbonisation targets set under a previous Energy Act. That provided an opportunity to adopt technology neutrality and I regret very much that another part of the jigsaw of moving towards our climate change targets has been taken away.