CCC in Parliament. Again.

Yet again, Parliament has decided that it will take evidence from the bigwigs at the Committee on Climate Change. On Wednesday, just after appearing in front of the Science and Technology Committee, Lord Deben will give evidence to the Energy and Climate Change Committee on his work at the CCC, accompanied by his sidekick David Kennedy.

I have no idea what the committee is intending to achieve with this hearing. I'd like to see them exploring issues such as how Lord Deben manages to provide independent advice on renewables while occupying a management role within a company that will gain massively from expansion of renewables and also how he can provide independent advice on recycling (something the CCC offers up on a regular basis) while occupying the role of chairman in a recycling business.

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Deben's doubtful stories

A bit of a car crash for Lord Deben this morning, claiming that Bangladesh is sinking beneath the waves and that refugees are already fleeing the delta.

Deniers/dismissers upset. Say no homelessness attributable to climate change. Yet 1000s in Bangladesh forced from homes by rising sea levels.

Unfortunately, his rather better informed followers on Twitter were quick to point out to him that Bangladesh is actually expanding:

New research shows Bangladesh may not be as vulnerable to rising sea levels caused by climate change as previously feared, scientists in Dhaka say.

They say satellite images show the country's landmass is actually growing because of sediment dumped by rivers.

I wonder what other fairy stories the Climate Change Committee tells the government.

Killing the carbon targets

GWPF reproduces an FT article which suggests that the government is under pressure from engineering companies who want to see the UK's unilateral carbon targets reduced. Apparently senior Conservatives are keen to see the targets killed off, something that could happen if a review by the Committee on Climate Change finds that the UK is moving much quicker towards decarbonisation than the rest of Europe.

Of course, under Lord Deben's stewardship the review is unlikely to come up with the required answer, and the Liberal Democrats represent something of an immovable object on this front too. They are, not to put to fine a point on it, willing to throw granny from the train (or let her freeze to death anyway) in order to keep their green voters.

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The Lords do battle

Updated on Jul 26, 2013 by Bishop Hill

After the House of Lords debate on the Energy Bill, Lord Deben wrote to a group of peers attacking the statements made by Matt Ridley in the debate. The letter and the ensuing correspondence was as follows:

Deben's first letter was sent on 4 July 2013:

My Lords,

During the debate on July 2, on the Energy Bill, I stated that the arguments on the science presented by my noble friend Lord Ridley were at variance with the views of the overwhelming majority of scientists whose expertise bears on these issues. I owe it to Lord Lawson, upon whom I intervened, and the noble Viscount to justify that statement. I therefore list the basis for that assertion and append two recent articles which address the points that he raised.

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Deben will not be consulted

In one of his recent appearances in the House of Lords, Lord Deben said that he had put in place arrangements to ensure that his involvement in Veolia Water did not represent a conflict of interest for his position as head of the Committee on Climate Change.

This was intriguing and I decided to write to DECC to find out exactly what these steps were. Here's the response:

Lord Deben has informed DECC of the steps he has taken to guard against any conflict of interest, perceived or actual, with regard to Veolia Water UK.

He has explained that activities in relation to connection of electricity supplies are undertaken by a subsidiary of Veolia Water UK, Veolia Water Infrastructure Limited, which has a separate Board of Directors on which Lord Deben does not sit. Lord Deben has informed the Secretary of State that, while no matter in relation to the operations of this subsidiary has come before the main Board of Veolia Water UK during his tenure, he has now given instructions that he is not to be consulted on any matter connected with these operations, nor receive any papers were it to come before Veolia Water UK’s main board in future.

As the Energy and Climate Change Committee is aware the Department’s view is that there is not a conflict of interest in these circumstances.

This is truly bizarre. It is not the decisions taken within Veolia that are conflicted by Deben working in the CCC. It's exactly the other way round. He needs to ensure that as chairman of the CCC he is not consulted on anything that affects Veolia. Since pretty much everything that happens within the CCC potentially affects Veolia, his position seems to me to be untenable.

What's the next step, I wonder?

Deben denies interests in energy

A grand committee of the House of Lords has been examining the provisions of the Energy Bill. The video of the meeting is below. The contributions to the debate are remarkable in that almost every speaker had to acknowledge a financial interest in the side they were supporting. One of the few exceptions was Matt Ridley (from 17:19.25), who pointed out that he was speaking against his declared interest in coal and in favour of gas.

During the debate, Lord Deben declared (16:52.00) that he had no business interests in areas related to the bill (although he declared his interests in the CCC and GLOBE International during his speech).

According to Veolia Water UK - which readers will recall has a business connecting new power generators to the grid -  he remains chairman of the board.

His failure, once again, to acknowledge his conflict of interest is presumably because if he acknowledges it now, he will be accepting by implication that he should have declared it when he stood as chairman of the Climate Change Committee. He has no choice except to try to tough it out.

(Incidentally, Nigel Lawson, from 17:33.0 onwards, was on very good form)

Update on Jul 3, 2013 by Bishop Hill

Later on in the debate, Deben says something about having stopped himself having anything to do with the bit of the company (presumably Veolia) that is involved with grid connections.

Not sure this is going to wash.

What's up at the ECC committee?

I've just received notice of an update to the website of the House of Commons Committee on Energy and Climate Change:

20 June 2013 11:15am  Pre-appointment hearing for the Chair of the Committee on Climate Change

Does this mean that they are hauling Deben in front of them again to explain the Veolia situation, or has Deben stood down? Presumably the former, but it's hardly a "pre-appointment hearing".

Deben in Veolia mode again

Oxford University has given a platform to Lord Deben to speak about climate change. Once again, the noble Lord's calls for action that strangely seems to coincide with the interests of Veolia UK Ltd, the company he chairs, and many of whose share options he owns.

In a speech given at the Oxford Environmental Change Institute, Deben sets about dissenters from the climate consensus with the gusto that is customary when there are large profits at stake. It is amusing also to learn about his concern over us sceptics' political and, erm, financial interests.

I don't think he says anything new, although he probably uses the d-word more than usual.

There's a report from the meeting and a podcast here.

Lord Deben is worried

Lord Deben is worried. Veolia UK Ltd, the company he chairs, stands ready to connect just as many windfarms to the grid as the country is willing to subsidise. But without clear national carbon reduction targets, the company is unlikely to make its mint.

In an entirely unrelated step, Deben has written to the Energy Secretary.

We note that the Government has acknowledged the benefit of a 2030 carbon-intensity target in your recent proposed amendment to the Energy Bill. However, the delay in setting this until 2016 at the earliest means that a high degree of uncertainty about sector development beyond 2020 remains. This will adversely impact on supply chain investment decisions and project development, therefore undermining implementation of the Bill and raising costs for consumers.

• Scenarios recently published by the Government in its gas generation strategy suggest the possibility of a significant fall-off in investment in low-carbon power generation after 2020...
• This could be particularly damaging for investment now in the offshore wind supply chain.

That would be a shame, wouldn't it?

Deben's reply to Yeo

Lord Deben has replied to Tim Yeo's polite inquiry about the nature of Veolia, a company chaired by Deben and which appears to represent a conflict of interest.

The position with the water company has not changed materially since I wrote to the committee before my confirmation. Veolia Water UK is overwhelmingly a supplier of services to the water industry. One of its subsidiaries continues to run an infrastructure services business which carries out utility connections of all kinds, including connections to renewable and non-renewable energy sources. It will complete grid connections, whatever the nature of the energy source, and is energy source neutral.

As I have previously highlighted, the whole business represents a very small proportion of Veolia Water UK's turnover. Indeed, its connections to renewables represented less than 1% of Veolia Water UK's turnover in the most recent financial period.

Hmm. As the Mail on Sunday pointed out the other day, Deben had previously suggested that he would be whiter than white on this issue:

If [Veolia] had ‘even a remote connection’ with the environment or climate change, he promised, he would step down.

He seems to have resiled from his position of purity in double quick time.

The other thing to point out is that Deben will be at the heart of decisions that could very quickly turn that 1% figure into something considerably larger. Indeed Veolia have admitted that new wind connections are likely to be a new source of income for the infrastructure business. Deben himself has noted the closer and closer links of Veolia Water to the other parts of the Veolia empire, which include Dalkia, a renewables company.

Deben is either Veolia's man or he is the public's man. He can't be both.

Unspeakable in pursuit of the iniquitous

The Mail on Sunday's splash last week about Lord Deben's misleading the House of Commons Energy and Climate Change Committee over the business of Veolia, a company he chairs, has elicited a response in the form of a letter from committee chairman Tim Yeo.

You may have seen the press coverage on Sunday 13 January (attached) relating to your interests in Veolia Water. At the Committee's request, I have written to Ed Davey to ask for an update on how DECC and the Cabinet Office have addressed the outstanding matters in relation to your interests, which we drew to their attention back in September. The Committee also asked me to write to you to give you an opportunity to comment.

The spectacle of the heavily conflicted Yeo assessing Deben to see if he too is heavily conflicted is almost too much for me.

(H/T Dung)

Debent

The Mail on Sunday has a story about conflicts of interest in individuals involved in renewables policy. In fact, it is our old friends Lord Deben and Bernie Bulkin.

When quizzed by MPs before his appointment was confirmed, he was asked about his chairmanship of the £500 million company Veolia Water UK. Lord Deben insisted it did no energy-related business and only dealt with water. If it had ‘even a remote connection’ with the environment or climate change, he promised, he would step down.

In fact, Veolia – of which Lord Deben remains chairman – boasts on its website of supplying ‘large electrical grid connections for renewable energy producers’, and illustrates this with a large photograph of wind farms.

The firm also publishes a ‘case study’ of how its engineers ‘braved the Scottish gales’ to install 12 miles of high-voltage cable to connect the national grid to the Dalswinton windfarm near Dumfries.

You read it here first.

Update on Jan 13, 2013 by Bishop Hill

Another must-read in the MoS is David Rose's look back at the reaction to his "global warming has stopped" article last year, in the light of the Met Office's prediction that we shouldn't expect any warming for a few more years yet.

Porcine politics - Josh 184

Cartoons by Josh

To the trough

Last Friday I wrote to the House of Commons Energy and Climate CHange Committee about Lord Deben's interests in Veolia. I received an acknowledgement from the committee noting that my email had been circulated to committee members. My email was as follows:

Dear Sirs

I want to bring to your attention some information regarding your recent hearing with Lord Deben.

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Get on board for a Green Future - Josh 180

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Cartoons by Josh