Biosecurity and long-term energy storage experts address Lords Committee
Monday 29 April 2024
On Tuesday 30 April at 10.15am, the House of Lords Science and Technology Committee will hold two evidence sessions, focusing on two separate inquiries: long-term energy storage and engineering biology.
At 10.15am, those giving evidence are:
- Adam Bell, Director of Policy, Stonehaven
- David Joffe, Project Director, Decarbonisation of the Grid, Royal Academy of Engineering
This is a follow-up evidence session and comes after the recent publication of the committee’s report into long-term energy storage.
At 11:30am, the committee, chaired by Baroness Brown, will take evidence on biosecurity and hear from:
- Professor Joyce Tait, Co-Director, Innogen Institute
- Piers Millett, Executive Director, International Biosecurity and Biosafety Initiative for Science (IBBIS)
- Sophie Rose, Senior Biosecurity Policy Adviser, Centre for Long-term Resilience
The evidence session will be available to watch live or on demand on Parliamentlive TV or in person in Committee Room 2, Palace of Westminster.
Questions in the first session are likely to include:
- What role do you see long-duration energy storage playing on a decarbonised grid?
- Do you think current Government policy is coherent and sufficient to bring that long- duration energy storage forward?
- What would be your most urgent actions or decisions to support long-duration storage?
Questions in the second session are likely to focus on:
- The implications that developments in engineering biology have for biosecurity
- How effective the existing regulatory framework is at addressing biosecurity risks from engineering biology
- How plausible are some of the scenarios of concern – for example, for non-state actors to engineer a bioweapon?
