Committee Corridor

• Clean power by 2030

  Clean Power by 2030 - that’s the ambition set out by the Prime Minister as one of his five central missions. The Government says that means a secure and affordable energy supply, the creation of essential new energy industries and the need to limit our contribution to climate change. Chair of the House of Commons Environmental Audit Committee and host of Committee Corridor, Toby Perkins MP, speaks to three guests who remain to be convinced. As energy minister, Chris Skidmore signed the UK’s net zero pledge into law in 2019. He later resigned in protest at plans to guarantee annual oil and gas licensing, and now chairs the Climate Action Coalition launched by former US Secretary of State John Kerry. Initially sceptical about the 2030 deadline for clean power, he’s encouraged by the pace of change and says the UK might even deliver faster. It should prioritise investment in new energy industries while keeping an eye on potential hurdles presented by forthcoming changes to English devolution. The House of Commons’ Energy Security and Net Zero Committee recently reported on the ‘energy planning chaos’ in a report titled Gridlock or Growth? Committee Member and Liberal Democrat MP, Claire Young, recommends the Government provide much clearer guidance to planners and developers on how strategic plans related to decisions on delivering grid connections. More diverse energy sources will bring down the UK’s electricity prices will address energy security, she says. “If you compare us to countries like France and Germany, we ‘ve got a less diverse and more volatile collection of energy sources than those countries,” Claire says, pointing to Germany’s combination of hydro, coal and gas, while France uses a high amount of nuclear power. The UK is more reliant on oil and gas, which is more exposed to price spikes.Harriet Cross is a Conservative MP and member of the Scottish Affairs Committee. She emphasises the importance of ensuring a just transition to a net zero future, an issue the Scottish Affairs Committee is currently exploring in its inquiry into GB Energy. The constituency Harriet represents – Gordon and Buchan in Aberdeenshire – is “the absolute heart” of the oil and gas sector, she says. “Ensuring that the transition is properly just, whatever just means, is absolutely vital.” Find out more about the committees’ work: Environmental Audit Committee: Enabling sustainable electrification of the UK economy ESNZ Committee: Gridlock or growth?Scottish Affairs Committee: GB energy and the net zero transition

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• The UK's role in protecting ocean life

  “Intensely frustrating” – that’s how one guest describes the slow progress of the UK towards ratifying the UN High Seas Treaty.  On this episode of Committee Corridor, host Toby Perkins MP explores how the UK could help tackle the threats facing the world’s oceans, following the UN Ocean Conference in June.  Much of the world’s ocean is unregulated, leaving vulnerable habitats unprotected from threats of pollution, unsustainable fishing and damaging practices such as deep sea mining. The High Seas Treaty is critical to establishing marine protected areas in international waters but needs to be ratified by 60 states before it can come into force. The UK signed it two years ago but has fallen behind other countries in ratifying it – the guests in this episode consider why.  Join Toby as he sits down with Fiona Thomas, Head of Public Affairs at the leading environmental charity, the Marine Conservation Society, to consider the UK’s progress on pressing marine concerns of bottom trawling, ‘forever chemicals’ and global targets such as 30x30 (to protect and conserve at least 30% of the world’s land, freshwater and ocean by 2030). There is a very real risk that rising sea levels will cause some of the world’s most vulnerable countries to disappear underwater by the end of this century. Sarah Champion MP, Chair of the International Development Committee, describes how Small Island Development States are particularly exposed to the impacts of climate change and need the world to notice.  Finally, Toby hears from Pippa Heylings, a fellow MP from the Environmental Audit Committee, about the evidence and outcomes of the Committee’s recent report on Governing the Marine Environment.   Find out more about the work discussed in this episode: Environmental Audit Committee: Governing the Marine Environment International Development Committee: UK Small Island Developing States Strategy   Marine Conservation Society Select committees are on Instagram: @UKCommonsCommittees Listen to our back catalogue!

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• Why is our water sector broken?

  Is our water system broken? The interim report from the Independent Water Commission says so.  “Irresponsible owners, poor leadership, low investment and ineffective prioritisation,” reports the House of Commons’ Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee. The scale of the challenge facing regulators is huge, says the National Audit Office. And consumer trust in the water industry is at an all time low.  What will it take to put it right? Join Committee Corridor host, Toby Perkins MP as he sits down with the environmental campaigner Feargal Sharkey to work out what’s gone wrong. Informed and incensed, Feargal is clear about the options ahead for water companies and regulators. After questioning 10 of England and Wales’ water and sewerage companies, the EFRA Committee Chair, Alistair Carmichael MP, explains how the sector has forgotten its core functions to provide water and sewerage services to the public and to protect the environment. There’ll be no let-up in parliamentary scrutiny as the Public Accounts Committee will report in the coming months.  Sir Geoffrey Clifton-Brown MP relates what shocked his committee most about the recent NAO report on the sector and how low levels of consumer trust are not surprising while bills rise and the performance of companies falls.    Find out more about the inquiries and reports mentioned in this episode: Current work by the Environmental Audit Committee  Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee: Priorities for water sector reform Public Accounts Committee: Water sector regulation  National Audit Office: Regulating for investment and outcomes in the water sector  Select committees are on Instagram @UKCommonsCommittees. 

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• Tackling twin crises: how can the Government deliver new homes while meeting climate goals?

  1.5 million new homes and net zero by 2050: can the Government do both?  A safe, secure and affordable place to live is the foundation of a healthy and prosperous life. But the UK is facing an acute shortage of homes. What is to be done, and how do we ensure environmental targets are still delivered? The latest episode of Committee Corridor, the podcast from Select Committees at the House of Commons, considers the housing crisis. Ahead of the Spending Review (on June 11), host Toby Perkins MP, Chair of the Environmental Audit Committee, asks: how do we build enough homes, ensuring they are both of high enough quality and contribute to meeting our environmental and nature goals?   Toby speaks to Kate Henderson, Chief Executive of the National Housing Federation (NHF) which represents housing associations, who sets out the scale of priorities facing the sector; how buildings need to adapt to climate changes by improving energy efficiency and the sector’s commitment to improving the condition of quality and safety of residents’ homes.  Labour MP Joe Powell, member of the Housing, Communities and Local Government Committee, tells Toby what the Committee found when it recently explored the issue of temporary accommodation. Meanwhile former House of Lords Built Environment Committee Chair Lord Moylan voices concerns over the clarity of proposed planning reforms.  

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• Aviation, economic growth and the climate crisis

  What happens when the UK’s biggest issues meet environmental targets and commitments head-on? The Chair of the House of Commons’ Environmental Audit Committee, Toby Perkins MP, hosts the first of five new episodes from the select committee podcast, Committee Corridor. Up first – airport expansion. Simon Calder, travel correspondent at the Independent, joins Toby to consider the UK travelling public’s ‘insatiable desire’ to get away by air and what can be done to manage the impact on local communities and greenhouse gas emissions.They discuss the Government’s view that unlocking airport capacity will boost economic growth. According to the Transport Secretary, Heidi Alexander MP - there is no conflict between expanding aviation and delivering on the UK’s legal, climate and environmental obligations. But climate campaigners have launched judicial reviews to challenge the Government’s policy for achieving net zero aviation by 2050 and to halt the Government’s plans for expansion at Luton. Transport Committee Chair, Ruth Cadbury MP (Labour Member of Parliament for Brentford and Isleworth) and Environmental Audit Committee member, Sarah Gibson MP (Liberal Democrat MP for Chippenham) join Toby to explore how their committees are considering these issues. The Environmental Audit Committee is investigating how airport expansion will impact the UK’s climate and nature goals. Following the Chancellor’s endorsement of expansion at London Heathrow, the Transport Select Committee met to consider if expanding airports in the south east of England can benefit the rest of the UK economy.

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