Brexit ‘won’t impact climate change commitments’

  A member of the Energy and Climate Change Committee (ECC) has told ELN Brexit will not affect the UK’s climate commitments. James Heappey, MP for Wells and ECC member said: […]

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A member of the Energy and Climate Change Committee (ECC) has told ELN Brexit will not affect the UK’s climate commitments.

James Heappey, MP for Wells and ECC member said: “I don’t think [Brexit] will impact on our climate change agreements at all, we were in Rio, we were in Kyoto, we were part of an international commitment on climate change and I am certain the UK government will remain fully committed to that.

“Keeping the lights on and innovating for the future should be perfectly possible. We need an energy mix right now that meets our current demand, of course we do but what we should also be doing is looking at all of the technologies that are emerging that might allow us to keep the lights on for less money in the future, whilst at the same time achieving our decarbonisation goals.”

Mr Heappey also suggested if the UK cannot yet keep the lights on with renewables, the gap in supply and demand should be bridged with gas imports rather than looking at indigenous sources such as shale gas.

He added if the UK commits to sourcing its own gas it will cost more and is likely to delay the move to renewables.

The new Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) has also said it will remain committed to UK climate commitments following the demise of DECC.

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