Green Party MP Caroline Lucas called for more investment in new gas-fired power plants before the general election and accused the government of fomenting a culture war over climate.
Mr Lucas used an urgent question in the House of Commons to lay out on Wednesday that despite the government's pledge to phase out fossil fuels, a series of new power stations could be built over the next few years. He challenged Energy Secretary Graham Stewart about the proposed plans.
She called on Stuart to acknowledge that “this is the government's latest attempt to start a culture war on climate”. Brighton Pavilion MPs have warned that plans to encourage further investment in unabated gas power into the 2030s will jeopardize the UK's climate change targets.
Shadow climate change secretary Alan Whitehead echoed those concerns, accusing the government of trying to “start a culture war” with its energy policy. He called on Mr Stuart to reveal how many new gas plants the government wanted to build, adding: “There is no mention of that in the 1,500-page document released yesterday.” Ta.
The government plans to extend the life of many existing power plants, but about 5 gigawatts of new gas generation capacity will be needed to provide a limited amount of backup power in the event of renewable energy shortages. We estimate that it is necessary to have it as a backup.
Plans to reform Britain's electricity market have angered environmentalists, but have found support among Tory MPs, including former minister Sir Jacob Rees-Mogg.
He suggested in the debate that the UK's legally binding net zero target should be “indefinitely postponed” to level the economic playing field between the UK and China and the US, where energy costs are lower.
The UK has a legally binding target to reduce emissions to net zero by 2050. The Government's official advisers to the Committee on Climate Change predict that only 1-2% of the UK's electricity generation will come from gas-fired power. The 2030s are the time to get climate goals back on track. The UK generated almost 40% of its electricity from gas last year.
Mr Rees-Mogg said the government's plans for more investment in gas power projects were “a good first step against our obsession with net zero”, but he called on the government to go further.
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“This obsession with the environment has made us fundamentally uncompetitive,” he told the Commons. “We want cheap electricity, we should have gas, we should have coal, and we should postpone net zero indefinitely, because we only account for 1% of global emissions and we Because the U.S. economy has consistently grown faster than ours, with cheaper energy.”
Mr Stuart responded to Mr Rees-Mogg: “We have a climate change problem and a climate emergency. That's why we're working to reduce emissions.”
