Speeches by Gardiner.

“Does the Minister recognise that the policy costs mentioned by the shadow Minister are a regressive tax, and that it may be better to put those on to general taxation? Of course, the energy company obligations and other policy costs were introduced by the Conservative Government. Will the Minister give consideration to…”

“You are referring to the court case that was fought over the credibility of the carbon delivery budget. The Government got their response in two days before the legal deadline, which we were all very pleased about. Together, you have explored some of the barriers to us meeting our emissions reduction targets and how we…”

“Only 20?”

“Thank you for that. The Climate Change Committee examined 163 of the plans for reducing emissions this summer, did it not? Fewer than half of them were considered to be fully credible, and over a third were considered to be either insufficient or to have significant risks of failure. You very elegantly, I thought, sub-…”

“In terms of an implementation timeline, you might just say, “Let us do everything as soon as possible,” but there are certain things that we cannot do until we have done other things. How do you see the phasing of it being managed by the Government?”

“I trust you enjoyed this Committee’s report on SAF.”

“I am conscious of time and I just want to ask you one further thing. From what Mr Childs and you have said already in terms of SAF and in terms of transportation, I wonder if you feel that there is a danger that the CCC is now, instead of offering Government what it sees as the solutions to the scientific facts of clim…”

“Finally, can I finally apologise to you? There is a debate that is going to be starting in Westminster Hall on the delivery of the carbon budgets, which I intend to speak in, so I will be leaving early from the Committee. Thank you very much for your submissions.”

“I want to look at the delivery plan and see how robust it is. If we look at the energy and emissions projections, they are expected to deliver over 100% of the emissions reductions to meet the carbon budgets 4 and 5, but only 75% of the savings needed for carbon budget 6. We have carbon budget 7 on top of that. How rea…”

“It all comes out now.”

“I would like to object that nobody has asked me to be a vice-chair.”

“Professor Grubb, what are the implications of the the CCC offering only one pathway in its recommendations on carbon budget 7 rather than the multiple pathways that it previously looked at?”

“Thank you. Finally, I remember Alice Amorim at COP29 from the extraordinary office for COP30, where she spoke very powerfully of Brazil’s efforts to reduce dependency on fossil fuels. Earlier you talked about auspicious moments. Is it an inauspicious moment that we have just had the announcement from Petrobras about th…”

“Let me ask the question in a more positive way. President Lula, who I have huge respect for, has said in the past that the revenues that come from the exploration of oil and gas are precisely what will be used to turbocharge the move towards renewables and a net zero economy. Are there specific pieces of legislation th…”

“Could I ask you about a matter that has clearly been initiated by what happened under your previous president in Brazil? That is the moves in the EU and also in the UK under schedule 17 of our Environment Act to introduce supply chain legislation to avoid the transformation of forests into land for agricultural product…”

“Excellency, let me interrupt you, because I know the Chair will have to move us on, and there are further questions I want to put to you. What are the key issues that need to be resolved before the TFFF can be launched at COP30? His Excellency Antonio de Aguiar Patriota: The most important issue that needed to be resol…”

“I am with you. His Excellency Antonio de Aguiar Patriota: You also mentioned the fact that a parcel of these resources would go into the indigenous communities. I think this is also worth highlighting. For the first time in our recorded history, let’s call it that, since the first Portuguese settlers arrived in Brazil …”

“Let me ask you though about the investment. I think you have predicated returns of $3.4 billion annually; that is if we get to the full fund. It is said that that would be used to pay tropical forest countries up to $4 per hectare annually. Is that enough? Of course a large part of that will be predicated to local indi…”

“Investors, indeed. They are properly investors, aren’t they? His Excellency Antonio de Aguiar Patriota: Yes. It is not only developed countries; it is not, “Oh, you polluted the world and now you must pay”. We are looking at countries like the United Arab Emirates, China is following closely and others, of course—the U…”

“Excellency, you have spoken about the importance of the Tropical Forest Forever Facility. You have also spoken about the tipping points, and you will have seen the Global Tipping Points report that came out just this month. That report talks about the way in which there has been drought and the El Niño effect over the …”