BEIS Committee Chair Rachel Reeves writes to new Business Secretary urging her to urgently set out new policies for EVs, carbon capture, and energy efficiency.
Andrea Leadsom, who officially took over as the UK's Business Secretary yesterday, is already facing immediate calls from MPs to firm up the government's plan for reaching net zero emissions by 2050 and acclerate action to deploy electric vehicles, carbon capture technologies, and energy efficiency measures.
Rachel Reeves, chair of Parliament's Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) Committee, today wrote to Leadsom to call for her to "hit the ground running and act quickly to ramp up efforts on the policies and actions crucial to tackling climate change and capitalising on the opportunities of a low-carbon economy".
Leadsom is now in charge of the UK's decarbonisation policy, having previously served as both Environment Secretary and Energy Minister.
She has previously attracted criticism from environmental campaigners over her opposition to onshore wind farm expansion and support for fracking in particular.
However, during her recent Conservative Party leadership bid she stressed that she regarded climate action as a top priority, calling for an expansion of investment in renewables and revealing she would declare a "climate emergency" if she became Prime Minister and set up a cabinet sub-committee tasked with delivering on the net zero target.
Writing to the new Business Secretary on behalf of the BEIS Committee, Reeves warned the UK is currently not on track to meet its interim climate targets for the fourth and fifth carbon budgets, adding "urgent action" and "more ambitious policies" are therefore needed.
The Labour MP reiterated her Committee's calls for the government to pull forward its ban on the sale of fossil fuel cars to 2032 at the latest, commission the first carbon capture usage and storage (CCUS) projects at least three UK clusters by 2025, and treat energy efficiency upgrades for all buildings as a national infrastructure priority.
The letter also pressed Leadsom for clarity over the government's position on onshore wind farm development - which is currently locked out of official clean energy auctions - and how emissions from international shipping and aviation will be tackled.
Reeves additionally called on Leadsom to ensure BEIS to work closely with the Treasury to ensure the latter's upcoming net zero funding review "examines the potential benefits as well as the costs of the transition to net zero".
The move follows concerns raised last month by the then-Chancellor Philip Hammond that the UK would need to invest around £1tr over the next 30 years in order to achieve the net zero goal, in a leaked letter which was criticised for failing to set out the benefits of decarbonising the economy.
However, in one of his last acts as Chancellor Hammond last week wrote to the BEIS committee to reaffirm the government's commitment to the net zero target and insist the planned review would focus on how to achieve the transition "in a way that workd for households, businesses and public finances, as well as how we can ensure this is compatible with plans for a thriving and competitive economy".
In her new letter to Leadsom, Reeves said she looked forward "to questioning the Secretary of State later this year and pressing her on her commitment to the policies needed to deliver on the UK's climate change obligations".
The move follows a damning report from the BEIS Committee earlier this month which warned the UK "stands no chance" of slashing greenhouse gas emissions to net zero by 2050, nor meeting its interim carbon budgets, unless the government takes urgent action to improve the energy efficiency standards of buildings and households.
The Committee on Climate Change - the government's independent advisory body - has also made it clear the UK desperately needs to fill the gaping gap in clean growth policy if it is to keep its long term climate targets on track.
The BEIS Committee recently joined with five other MP select committees in Parliament as part of plans to hold a 'Citizens' Assembly' on combatting climate change and achieving net zero emissions.
BEIS said it would be responding fully to the letter in due course, but hailed the UK's progress in cutting emissions further than any other G7 country since 1990.
Meanwhile in a statement yesterday Leadsom hailed her appointment as Business Secretary as a "great honour".
"It's a great honour to be appointed as Secretary of State for BEIS, supporting UK businesses as we make our way in the world once we've left the EU, and of course tackling the vital issue of global climate change, and I really look forward to getting stuck into the work," she said.
The new Ministerial team now faces a raft of crucial decarbonisation policy decisions following the release earlier this week of a raft of consultations setting out proposals to mobilise finance in new nuclear, CCUS, and energy efficiency projects.
Speaking in the Commons yesterday, newly appointed Prime Minister Boris Johnson said the UK would lead the world in delivering on the target to build a net zero emission economy by 2050.
However, when pressed by Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn he provided no further details on the policy measures he intended to introduce to ensure the UK moves onto a decarbonisation trajectory that is compatible with the goal.
In related, news WWF tweeted this afternoon that a group of leading NGOs had already met with new Environment Secretary Theresa Villiers to discuss the government's green plans and call on her to ensure the new Environment Bill forms the centrepiece of the next Queen's Speech.
