Watch my speech at the All-Party Parliamentary Group for Energy Studies Winter Warmer Reception.

You can also read the speech.

Transcript – Check against delivery

Thank you so much for the invitation to speak to you tonight, I am conscious I am the last thing between you and them bringing out the canapes, so I will attempt to be brief.

I’d like to start by thanking the APPG for Energy Studies for putting on this event tonight. The APPG has long played a crucial role in facilitating conversations about energy supply and infrastructure in this country. The need for sustainable, reliable energy has never been so urgent or so prominent in the political agenda.

As Chair of the Environmental Audit Committee, my colleagues and I take a keen interest in these developments in the sector and in scrutinising the government’s plans to decarbonise our energy supply.

I would also like to thank Future Energy Networks for sponsoring this evening’s reception. Having only set up shop in August, it is encouraging to see this compelling report.

I would like to congratulate all involved in it as it gives us the basis for an important and instructive evening.

Tonight, I would like to touch on the challenge in front of us,

the start the Government has made

and the role the gas sector can play in  contributing to a successful transition to net zero.

We  await the forthcoming seventh carbon budget, to be published by the Climate Change Committee later this month.

We also look forward to seeing how this government plan to deliver the commitments laid out but not specified in the 6^th carbon budgets produced by their predecessor.

The CCC found only last year that the pace of emission reduction, faltered in the latter stages of the previous government and so it is welcome that the new government have made energy transition a key priority.

The drive to clean power by 2030, can leave us in no doubt about the ambition and intent of the Government.

It is important to recognise that as a nation we have halved our emission output compared to 1990 levels, way ahead of most of our major western counterparts, with the move from coal to gas playing a significant part.

Any hesitation now would see us struggle to meet our first binding target to be on track to meet net zero, which we will be measured against in five short years.

The new commitment the Prime Minister made at COP 29, for the UK to reduce emissions by 81% on 1990 levels by 2035 is both ambitious and necessary.

However these targets do not undermine the clear acceptance that not only will gas play a role  the short term – keeping the lights on as renewable forms of energy continue to grow – but in the longer term, even the climate change committee have recognised that is a role for clean gases- like Hydrogen and bio-Methane – beyond 2050.

However, the ability of the gas sector to support energy stability and be a part of that transition will also depend on the continued development of appropriate gas storage and that investment in infrastructure across the nation.

The government clearly do see a role for a breadth of options as part of the ambitious clean power 30 plans. It is hugely welcome that even in a particularly difficult budget settlement, the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero gained a 22% increase in its budget from the Treasury.

Russia’s illegal invasion of Ukraine and geopolitical uncertainty across the globe – along with the upcoming price rises, all reinforce that energy security is a national security issue.

I’m encouraged by what we have heard today. This is not an industry with its head in the sand. It is open to dialogue with Government about the need to change and the move forward.

This is a sector that serves 22 million homes and businesses across the UK and is making the emission reducing decisions needed to meet the CCC’s budgets.

We know that even if the Government meets its clean power by 2030 mission, on its own terms, it expects 5 percent of Britain’s energy generation to come from gas.

It clear from what James has told us this evening that the gas sector wants to do more to play its part.

So friends, there is a huge amount to do if Net Zero by 2050 is going to be achieved. More urgently, in the next 5 years, stakeholders across the energy sector must pull together behind the common goal of reaching clean power by 2030. The gas sector, with its wealth of existing infrastructure and resource, must be part of this endeavour. I encourage the government to continue a constructive dialogue with your sector on how to drive down reliance on fossil fuels and move towards a greener future and thank you once again for your engagement with us at this event tonight.