Prime Minister David Cameron has dismissed criticism of his government's climate and energy policies, rejecting criticism from former CBI boss John Cridland and former US Vice President Al Gore as "total, utter nonsense" in a heated meeting of the Parliamentary Liaison Committee.
Cameron said he "profoundly" disagreed with the criticism that has been flung at the government over its decision to scrap or roll bank 16 separate climate policies over the last six months. He insisted the UK is "overachieving" against its carbon targets and repeatedly touted the success of the green economy in delivering record levels of clean energy capacity and sharp reduction in UK greenhouse gas emissions.
He reiterated arguments made in the House of Commons in November that as Prime Minister he has overseen a surge in solar and wind deployment over the last two Parliaments.
Cameron was pushed by MPs on the government's plans to roll out new gas-fired power stations and cut subsidies for the cheapest renewables, such as wind and solar power, in the wake of the Paris Agreement, which commits countries to delivering net zero emissions during the second half of the century.
The Prime Minister countered that the last government and this government has "poured money" into clean technologies, but warned "every penny that goes to these technologies goes on people's energy bills".
Cameron was also quizzed on his controversial decision to cut the government's flagship £1bn carbon capture and storage (CCS) competition, which was included in the Conservatives election manifesto. He said while he still personally had some belief in the technology, CCS was not currently workable from an economic perspective. He said there was evidence the project would have delivered clean energy at a price of £170 per MWh, which was much higher than the cost of new nuclear and offshore wind capacity.
The Prime Minister also hinted the government may have had a change of heart over the Swansea Tidal Lagoon project, which has been in formal negotiations for funding with the Department of Energy and Climate Change since the Chancellor George Osborne floated it as a flagship green energy project in the 2015 Budget.
Cameron said his enthusiasm for tidal technology is "waning", claiming that there are no tidal projects on the table with an attractive enough strike price for investment.
The Prime Minister was pushed repeatedly on how he planned to reconcile his reduced support for renewables and CCS with his commitment to delivering on the UK's long term climate change targets.
In a heated exchange with the SNP's Angus MacNeil he said the UK was meeting its carbon targets and would continue to do so through a mix of nuclear, gas, and renewables, stressing that gas power remained the cheapest energy option currently available.
However, MacNeil countered that the UK would not meet its carbon targets if it was reliant on unabated gas power.
The independent Committee on Climate Change warned last summer that under current policies the UK will miss its fourth carbon budget by up to 13 per cent and critics have pointed out that analysis was carried out before the government shelved its CCS plans. The Committee has also in the past argued the most cost-effective way to meet longer term targets is to almost fully decarbonise the power sector by 2030 and warned that it will cost more to meet long term carbon targets without CCS.
Lisa Nandy, shadow energy and climate change secretary, accused the Prime Minister of hailing the success of policies he has subsequently scrapped.
"The Prime Minister's only line of defence on clean energy was to cite the investment made possible by the very schemes that he is now abandoning," she said. "He boasted about the success of his solar policy but now he is ripping it up to the cost of up to 18,000 jobs. He pointed to the Green Investment Bank, but now he is selling it off and removing its green status. He axed the fund for Carbon Capture and Storage on cost grounds, yet he's just handed out hundreds of millions in subsidies to diesel and coal generators. His short-sighted approach is already causing job losses, and putting off the investment in new power stations we urgently need to keep the lights on."
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