Stella Creasey and Bob Seely on Politics Live

Net Zero an ‘arbitrary target’, says Isle of Wight MP Bob Seely

Isle of Wight MP, Bob Seely, is one of 33 MPs who have signed a letter published in The Telegraph today criticising the UK Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS).

The UK ETS – a scheme to cap UK carbon emissions – covers energy-intensive industries (steel, paper, etc) , power generation, and aviation sectors. These are the same sectors covered by the EU system it replaced.

The scheme sets a cap (which reduces over time) on the total amount of certain greenhouse gases that can be emitted. If a company exceeds those caps they can either purchase allowances from other companies, or pay heavy fines.

What is the UK Emissions Trading Scheme (click to expand)

The UK Emissions Trading Scheme (UK ETS) is a system designed to reduce the amount of greenhouse gases produced by industries in the United Kingdom. It was introduced after the UK left the European Union and thus exited the EU Emissions Trading System (EU ETS), which it had been part of previously.

The ETS operates under a “cap and trade” principle, whereby the government sets a cap on the total amount of certain greenhouse gases that can be emitted by all the sectors covered by the system. Within this cap, companies receive or buy emission allowances, which they can trade with one another as needed.

Each allowance gives the holder the right to emit one tonne of carbon dioxide or the equivalent amount of a different greenhouse gas. The total number of allowances issued adds up to the cap, thereby limiting the total emissions that the companies in the scheme can produce.

Companies that emit greenhouse gases are required to monitor their emissions and report them annually. They must also surrender enough allowances to cover their reported emissions. Companies that do not surrender enough allowances to cover their emissions face heavy fines.

Over time, the cap on emissions is gradually reduced, which in turn reduces the number of allowances in circulation. This puts a financial cost on carbon pollution, incentivising companies to reduce their emissions.

The UK ETS covers energy intensive industries, power generation, and aviation sectors — the same sectors covered by the EU system it replaced.

The ETS is a key component of the UK’s strategy to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in line with its commitments under the Paris Agreement, and its own legally binding target to achieve net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050.

Issues raised
The letter in The Telegraph claims that decarbonisation costs for those industries affected by the ETS “have spiralled in an unsustainable way”.

They claim that, “without immediate action, we risk further irreversible deindustrialisation of the economy”.

They say, “we now want the disproportionate carbon costs because of ETS to be recognised”.

Questions to Bob Seely
News OnTheWight wrote to Bob Seely with a series of questions including;

  • Do you disagree with the findings of the IPCC Report on climate change on the urgent need to reduce emissions?;
  • If you don’t want to use UK ETS to ensure businesses reduce their emissions, what do you propose to make businesses reduce their emissions?
  • At the 2019 hustings in Newport, you said you believed that climate change is man-made – has that changed?

At time of publishing he’d yet to respond, but we will update once we hear back.

Seely: Net Zero “an arbitrary target”
There rarely seems to be a week goes by that Bob Seely is not on either national TV or radio.

Today saw his return to Politics Live, where during a discussion about the Government’s own advisors saying that no progress had been made on the climate plan, Bob said he believes that ‘Net Zero’ was “an arbitrary target”.

He said,

“It is important that we look after our environment well and push towards a much greener world – that we try to stick to our net zero targets – but we have to do it in a way that is common sensical.”

You can hear all Bob had to say on the subject by watching him on the BBC iPlayer (jump to 11.53, or watch from the beginning to hear his stance on water companies).


Image: © BBC