Speeches by Gardiner.

“That leads me to the crunch question: will you publish a response to the Whitehead review before you set out the role of GGRs in delivering carbon budget 7—in the carbon budget delivery plan? The Government cannot really do that until you have properly considered the GGR strategy that the Whitehead review says you shou…”

“To follow up what the Chair was pressing you on earlier, Minister, when will the Government respond to the Whitehead review?”

“It has now been eight months. Perhaps you could write to us if and when that becomes clear.”

“Indeed. One of his recommendations says that the “Government must continue to aim to achieve net zero as far as possible through emissions mitigations, with only supplementary roles for GGR solutions that balance emitted GHGs.” Do you agree that they should play only a supplementary role and that we have to continue do…”

“You have predicated it for that amount coming from CORSIA, but I do not see how, first, that is in line with what the CCC recommended, and secondly, how you can do it when we are not in the mandatory phase and it will be extinguished by CB7.”

“It would be the wrong expression to say that I do not want you to take your foot off the gas, but you know exactly what I am saying.”

“I have one last question, which I do not expect you to answer. When will the carbon budget 7 delivery plan be published?”

“Exactly what I thought—you did not answer it.”

“The impact assessment actually states that you have not considered feedback loops as part of the cost assessment. Let us suppose, counter to what we all hope, that fossil fuel costs do rise and continue to be high, and the cost-benefit analysis then works out even more in the favour of the transition. I suppose what I …”

“Looking at the Paris principles, there is equity and common but differentiated responsibilities. Your impact assessment says, “Under the Paris Agreement, all countries are required to communicate Nationally Determined Contributions…representing their highest possible ambition to the UNFCCC”. Ours is not—you have chosen…”

“Look, I am a reasonable man. [Laughter.] Well, some people think I am a reasonable man; some people do not. I do not accept that as an answer, because it is not an answer. I do not expect a full answer to it now, but I would like you to go away and write to us to say how you marry up what the CCC has advised with the c…”

“Let us look at vulnerability. Dr Millar talked about the number of excess deaths as a result of heat, and we know that in care homes, heat stroke is an important factor. Of the things that this report tells us we should be doing, what are the key priorities? I would like you to focus not only on vulnerability, but on i…”

“Finally—because we are pressed for time—one thing that Baroness Brown brought out in the report was that many of these adaptation solutions are things that will make people’s lives better in a very tangible way, and we should therefore see them as politically popular. With spending on mitigation, it is very difficult t…”

“A key recommendation of the report is that we set targets, which was a failure of the previous national adaptation programmes. Why are you confident that setting targets on climate adaptation will be any different from the way in which the Government set targets in every other sphere? They set targets, but departmental…”

“Does action now to prevent those risks, which are real risks to all our lives, save money?”

“Professor Surminski, without putting words in your mouth, in response to Mr Hinchliff’s question about how we can afford this, you are really saying, “How can we afford not to?”, aren’t you?”

“Are there critical systems that are heat vulnerable and could lead to cascading risks?”

“We are doing it in the World cup, aren’t we? We are giving them extra breaks instead of just a half-time break.”

“What happens if our electrical power system is subject to too much heat? Give us the examples. What are those cascading risks and how would it then play out?”

“You are telling me process, but I want detail.”