Five House of Lords committees to examine the climate change challenge
Starting from next week five House of Lords committees will be asking panels of witnesses about some of the ways climate change will affect different policy areas and what the Government's response should be.
Wednesday 11 March
At 11am, the EU Home Affairs Sub-Committee will hear from Dina Ionesco from the International Organisation for Migration, Oli Brown at Chatham House, Alex Randall from the Climate Change and Migration Coalition, and Dr Ricardo Safra de Campos from the University of Exeter on the impact of climate change on human migration. The Committee will discuss how climate change has caused human migration and how governments should address the problem, including whether those displaced as a result of climate-related events should be eligible for refugee status. The Committee will also ask how the matter should be addressed at COP26 and whether the issue is one that the UK, as host, has prioritised.
At 12pm, the EU Energy and Environment Sub-Committee will ask Gilles Dufrasne from Carbon Market Watch, Anita Lloyd from Squire Patton Boggs LLP and Peter Betts from Chatham House about international carbon markets and Article 6 of the Paris Agreement: what went wrong at COP25, what the outstanding issues of contention are, and what Government needs to do to secure an agreement later this year.
Thursday 12 March
At 9.30am, the EU Internal Market Sub-Committee will hear from Dr Luca Rubini, University of Birmingham, about how any new UK state aid rules could help the UK to ‘level up' the country and meet its climate targets. At 10.15am the same Sub-Committee will ask James Webber, Partner at Shearman and Sterling, Alexander Rose, Director at DWF, and Professor Karen Turner, University of Strathclyde, on the same topic.
At 10am the EU External Affairs Sub-Committee will ask climate change experts about the challenges climate change poses to developing countries and what role the UK Government and wider development community can play to help address those challenges.
Wednesday 18 March
At 10:15am the EU Financial Affairs Sub-Committee will hear from Mark Carney, the UN Special Envoy for Climate Action and Finance. The Committee will ask about the priorities for his new role, aims for COP26, and pressing issues facing green finance, including ‘greenwashing'.
Members from each of those Committees will then be joined by Baroness Anelay, Chair of the International Relations and Defence Committee, for an evidence session on 25 March, which will involve quizzing the Rt Hon Alok Sharma (COP President and BEIS Secretary of State) about the Government's work on climate change and preparations for COP26, the UN climate change conference the Government is hosting in November.
Speaking ahead of the series of evidence sessions, Lord Teverson, Chair of the EU Energy and Environment Sub-Committee, said:
“Climate change is an emergency. The repeated serious flooding here in the UK is just one of the many ways global warming is already taking its toll. That's why five House of Lords committees have uniquely come together to examine this emergency.
“These sessions will shed light on a number of those diverse climate change challenges that now confront us. Our follow up will be pressing ministers on how the Government intends to move forward. With COP26 only months away, clear and focused responses from minsters will be essential.”
The evidence sessions are open to the public and will take place on the committee corridor in the House of Lords.
They can also be followed live on Parliamentlive.tv
