Speeches by Chope.

“Why is that?”

“Let me give a specific example. The Environment Agency published a report at the end of December saying that as a result of climate change, one in eight properties in England is going to be in danger of being flooded by the middle of this century. The cost of dealing with that, preventing it and adapting to meet that t…”

“Thank you for highlighting the importance of adaptation and resilience, which are among your statutory responsibilities. When it comes to public investment to meet those objectives, how do you evaluate the relative benefits of taxpayer-funded investment in adaptation and resilience measures compared with taxpayer inves…”

“On a matter of fact, I thought that DESNZ was the Department that had responsibility for the Climate Change Committee. If it is the Department to which the Climate Change Committee reports, and DESNZ is basically their sponsor Department, surely we as a Committee, which is responding to that and holding that Department…”

“Could you let us have a note on that, because I had not realised that that was one of the excuses for not delivering on your goals under the 2008 Act?”

“Would you describe, for example, nuclear as cleaner than gas?”

“I have a brief question. I am sorry that I was not here at the beginning; I have been at the Procedure Committee. Nuclear is described by the Government as clean power. Almost all the evidence that you have been giving today has been about the waste, the contamination and the need for cleaning up as a result of nuclear…”

“The reason I ask is that there is a lot of confusion among members of the public, because obviously they know that CO₂ is not, in itself, inherently dirty, and they do not want to lose access to gas. As we heard from one of my colleagues, there is quite a lot of scepticism about nuclear. People look at Germany and see …”

“But your answer is based on the premise that CO₂ emissions are innately dirty.”

“Why would you say that?”

“There are other elements of that as well. There is concern being expressed that a lot of projects will still not get past the starting line and past your regulations. For example, your report says that 90% of solar projects should be allocated to the distribution network. Why 90% and not 100%? Kayte O’Neill: Projects g…”

“But was that a wise decision bearing in mind the point that he makes, that the consequence of doing that is that it may well add to the cost of transmission?”

“I have received a letter from somebody called Bill Rees, whom I do not know but he is the managing director of Enso Energy. He says: “The ‘Clean Power 2030’ report does not take account of the benefits of co-located sites, with each technology considered separately. Co-location optimises grid use and thereby reduces co…”

“On the timescale, I am told that originally you said that you might not be able to indicate which projects were needed until the end of 2025 or early 2026. Is that still the situation or have you been able to advance that timetable? That length of wait is very bad for investors.”

“Can I ask one more question?”

“So the man in Whitehall knows best. That is really what we are talking about, isn’t it? Kayte O’Neill: No, what is important is that we connect to the grid the level of infrastructure that is needed to meet clean power and to bring economic benefit and growth to GB. There is a limit to how much generation connection we…”

“You didn’t see the pictures? It is a complete scene of carnage. Was it 19 acres of wind farm completely destroyed? Anyway, I am sure that the Chinese manufacturers will benefit from being able to renew all that. Can I ask you about how precisely you will determine which projects are strategically aligned? Who will deci…”

“Like the one that was swept away by Storm Darragh in Anglesey? That was connected to the main distribution network.”

“Shouldn’t we just be making a bigger distribution network so that it covers the country in the same way as the gas grid does?”

“Yesterday you made a fresh announcement that revised some earlier proposals. What do you think the impact is of that and why did you make those revisions? Kayte O’Neill: The decisions that we set out yesterday were a positive set of decisions very much grounded in the feedback that we have had from stakeholders through…”