Select committee: Business, Innovation, Science and Trade Committee
Recommendation 29
Eleventh Report - Decarbonisation of the power sector
Published 28 Apr 2023
Paragraph 137
Addressed to Department for Business and Trade
Business, Innovation, Science and Trade Committee Decarbonisation of the power sector All items in this report Report on parliament.uk ↗ Inquiry on parliament.uk ↗
Recommendation (the committee's words)
The Government was due to publish a biomass strategy last year, setting out the role of biomass in helping to achieve the Government’s net zero target, including whether biomass would be best used to generate electricity or for other purposes The Government should publish its biomass strategy without delay and set out: a) the Government’s assessment of future demand for biomass feedstocks in the UK and globally; b) the extent to which the UK can rely on domestic biomass feedstocks to meet future demand and mechanisms to support domestic biomass supply; and c) the timeframe for scaling up the supply of domestic biomass feedstocks.
From: Business, Innovation, Science and Trade Committee, Eleventh Report - Decarbonisation of the power sector (HC 283), paragraph 137, 28 April 2023
Government response
The government responded to the whole report on 14 July 2023 (deadline 28 June 2023).
Summary written by Accountability Index from the government's response. It is not the government's own words.The government welcomes the Committee's report and responds to each recommendation, planning annual reporting on power sector decarbonisation while setting out where it will not adopt specific proposals.
- On the call for a long-term delivery plan, the government "plans to report on its delivery, and overall plan to deliver the commitment, on an annual basis", and is strengthening its portfolio management approach.
- On a UK-wide onshore wind target, it states that setting one "would potentially undermine the flexibility needed" across the UK.
- On biomass, it has "no plans to remove support prior to 2027" for stations already supported, saying they "have a statutory right to their existing support".
- On Ofgem's duties, it is "content to amend" Ofgem's existing duty on greenhouse gases to refer specifically to the net zero targets in the Climate Change Act 2008.