Speeches by White.

“It sounds like Kent county council missed a real opportunity there, because I know we have had a lot of investment going out through LEVI networks. I am sure many of your colleagues will be benefiting from that, and it is a shame if your constituents are not getting that opportunity. As I said in a previous answer, we …”

“For sure. For these specific environmental targets, an annual report is published by the Committee on Climate Change, which is an annual marking of homework. I do not recall many other parts of Government getting an annual homework mark. That, I am sure, is an opportunity to scrutinise Government.”

“No, you are absolutely right that we envisage a greater role for those technologies. We are looking at aviation technologies—some that are available now and others that are being explored. Whether it is electric planes or power-to-liquid, we are looking at all those different options. Technology plays a greater role in…”

“We think that these technologies have a role. The Committee on Climate Change has been clear in each of its scenarios that CCUS has a role. There is also a role for GGRs. We have put a certain amount of investment in those, and we see the opportunity for the UK. Because of our geological heritage, we could have a compa…”

“Thank you, Mr Davies, for your question, and for championing of parts of the industry, particularly around heat pumps. You are absolutely right that there is opportunity here. You will know that since coming into office in July 2024, we have secured £90 billion of investment around the clean energy transition. The carb…”

“I might lean on Ryan, but my understanding of the precedent is that it usually within an 18-month period. Is that correct?”

“I cannot comment specifically or give you a number to add to the impressive numbers that you have shared around green hydrogen. At the moment, we are focusing on electrification and areas where the shift is perhaps easier and is already happening. We are building on that success. You mentioned the harder to abate secto…”

“I believe the greenhouse gas removals review, which Lord Whitehead is very passionate about, is imminent, but let me just double check. Ryan, do you know when it will be?”

“For sure. He is, as you know, very passionate about it.”

“Yes, mitigation has to be our primary lever. As we have said, right now, electrification is the primary route towards delivering emissions reductions, and it is the best thing at the moment. You are right that it will be the primary route, but the supplementary role obviously has a larger window. I am conscious that—”

“You are absolutely right about that coming up in every briefing. If we can bring down the costs, it will make this whole thing a lot easier, for sure. On the pace at which we have moved, I do not think that anyone would deny—excuse this pun—the energy with which the Secretary of State has approached this agenda since w…”

“I agree. We will come back to the Committee on when the Whitehead review will be published and how that will interact with the delivery plan.”

“This is the first budget that we are looking at including international aviation and shipping in. You know that we work through the IMO on CORSIA and it is limited to international aviation and shipping. To date, we have not used any of those international credits.”

“You are a huge expert in this field, and you are right that, with the international fossil fuel price spike, the figures would have looked more favourable to low carbon investment, and do look more favourable today. You also know that we are trying to strike a very fine balance, because factors change in different dire…”

“In many ways, it should help—you are right. You know how committed I am—”

“My foot is on my EV pedal, within the speed limits, at pace. I think you are absolutely right that, if anything, since these figures and this assessment, it has moved towards a more compelling argument towards a low carbon transition. Sadly, there are no Members here from the official Opposition, but we are slightly pr…”

“As soon as possible.”

“I do not disagree with your premise. You are absolutely right that there is a certain amount of shift—there is behaviour change in terms of EVs, the electrification of homes etc. But when we talk about behaviour change in this context, we are talking about the harder, more challenging behaviour change elements, which a…”

“You raised a number of points there, Chair. You are absolutely right that the Committee on Climate Change proposed a trajectory that was slightly more focused on behaviour change. Having reflected, we have decided to try a different route that is less reliant on consumers to make those differences. It may be that some …”

“I thought there was a danger flag on your watch. Making some of those shifts across some of our building sectors is going to be difficult. On retrofit, those of us who have been around the sector for a while know that some of that has been harder to achieve than we would have wanted; people do not like to look at retro…”