Environment & Climate
62mentions · last 12 months↓
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The Energy Security and Net Zero Committee scrutinises government policy and delivery on energy security, decarbonisation, and the transition to net zero across the UK energy sector. It operates as a Commons select committee and regularly takes oral evidence from ministers, officials, and industry experts. The committee's recent work has focused heavily on the government's nuclear roadmap, examining both the regulatory framework and the roles of the taskforce and GB Energy in driving forward nuclear development. It has also inquired into energy resilience in the context of the Iran crisis and its implications for UK energy supplies. The committee additionally scrutinised energy pricing and security issues, hearing from witnesses including those with expertise in energy markets. Its sessions have combined structured investigations into major policy areas with broader oral evidence sessions designed to monitor implementation across the energy sector.
29 sessions published in the last 12 months · busiest week: w/c 22 Jun (2 sessions)
Click any cell in the heatmap to see the sessions held that day and the insights extracted from them.
422 insights
08 Jul 2026
The Committee scrutinised whether COP and the UNFCCC still matter in a more fragmented geopolitical environment, and whether the UK should lean more on coalitions of the willing, bilateral delivery and the Santa Marta fossil-fuel transition process. Witnesses argued that COP remains essential for inclusive global negotiation, but that implementation now depends on coalitions, domestic delivery, stronger finance signals and clearer public storytelling. Ministers defended the Government’s record as having “supercharged” climate action through an ambitious NDC, Clean Power 2030, international coalitions and new special representatives, while also acknowledging tensions over ODA cuts, the need for more urgency, and the unresolved question of adapting to climate impacts. The session also surfaced concerns about fossil-fuel lobbying, disclosure rules, ISDS climate litigation, Whitehall co-ordination, and the scale and timing of adaptation investment.
08 Jul 2026
The committee scrutinised electricity-market reform, focusing on rising constraint and balancing costs, the role of flexibility, and whether the system should prioritise network build, locational signals, or more automated demand-side response. Witnesses from networks, retail, NESO, Elexon and Flexitricity agreed that constraint costs are too high and that flexibility can cut costs and emissions, but differed on sequencing: several argued for a 'flexibility first' approach, while also acknowledging the need for accelerated transmission investment. The panel pressed for regional clean-flex markets, removal of levies from demand turn-up, better data and visibility of smaller assets, and stronger incentives for businesses, batteries and data centres; NESO/Elexon emphasised ongoing reform, modernisation, cyber safeguards and that current and future changes must remain proportionate and maintain market confidence.
01 Jul 2026
The Committee scrutinised whether the North Sea should be treated as a declining sector or a long-term national asset, and what would be required to avoid a ‘cliff edge’ in Aberdeen and across the UK. Witnesses from business, unions, charity, skills bodies and education repeatedly argued that oil and gas remains needed for decades, that domestic production would support jobs, tax receipts and energy security, and that policy uncertainty and weak investment are slowing the transition. The strongest concrete policy asks were for more pragmatic fiscal and licensing policy, clearer government decisions on carbon capture and storage, better public procurement and local-content rules, more joined-up workforce planning, multi-year funding for colleges, and better recognition of the social impacts of transition through real-time indicators and third-sector engagement.
24 Jun 2026
The committee scrutinised how well the electricity market and the new reformed national pricing (RNP) framework can support decarbonisation, security and affordability. Witnesses broadly agreed the current system was designed for a very different, fossil-heavy grid and now struggles to integrate intermittent renewables, flexible demand and rapidly rising constraint costs. Across both panels, the strongest themes were the need for better operational and locational signals, reform of TNUoS and CfDs, stronger alignment between the strategic spatial energy plan and network planning, and more transparency around REMA and the evidence base that led government to reject zonal pricing. Government’s line, as reflected in witnesses’ discussion of DESNZ policy, was that RNP is the chosen route for incremental reform, but several witnesses argued it risks being too slow, too narrow, or too weak on operational signals unless CfDs, demand-side measures and network charging are also changed.
23 Jun 2026
The committee scrutinised whether the UK has restored its climate leadership through stronger NDCs, credible delivery and science-based verification, while repeatedly probing the gap between domestic ambition and fair-share obligations. Witnesses broadly welcomed the UK’s NDCs as credible and science-aligned, but said the UK still falls short on equity, adaptation, climate finance and fossil-fuel phase-out signals. They also highlighted the UK’s scientific institutions, multilevel governance models and private-sector mechanisms as strengths, while warning that lobbying, weak transparency, and the use of public-private finance models without strong safeguards can undermine credibility. Several witnesses urged stronger disclosure rules, methane import standards, more adaptation investment, and deeper support for subnational action and international climate finance.
17 Jun 2026
The committee scrutinised whether the UK should keep prioritising domestic oil and gas production, or instead accelerate managed decline and investment in renewables, CCS and decommissioning. David Whitehouse argued for keeping North Sea production broadly flat, a Treasury oil-and-gas price mechanism, and a supportive fiscal/regulatory regime to protect jobs, security and tax revenues. Tessa Khan argued new licensing is incompatible with climate targets, that more North Sea production does not solve affordability or security, and that the sector’s profits have not been reinvested in UK jobs. Claire Greer said workers do not feel supported, see a cliff-edge rather than a transition, and need a concrete plan, unionised jobs and real alternatives. The second panel stressed carbon leakage, CBAM, regulatory stability, supply-chain investment, port infrastructure and the continuing importance of refineries, while rejecting the idea that simple subsidies are the answer.
08 Jul 2026