Bim Afolami MP, Member of Parliament for Hitchin & Harpenden, used his position on Parliament’s influential Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy Select Committee to question industry leaders on the role that biomass and hydrogen can play in decarbonising the economy, as part of the Government’s plans for a clean, homegrown energy system. The committee heard representations from BP, the Drax Group, and others on the steps that industry is taking to deliver new clean energy supply chains.
The oral evidence session was the first of the Committee’s Decarbonising the Power Sector Inquiry, looking at the Government’s aims of a clean energy system by 2035 is achievable. The Committee will be looking at the proposals in the Energy Security Strategy and examining whether the Government has struck the right balance between new and existing technologies to deliver renewable energy supply, including hydrogen and biomass.
Mr Afolami was elected to the Select Committee earlier in the Autumn and has been a leading Parliamentary voice on energy policy, having Chaired the All-Party Parliamentary Group for Renewable and Sustainable Energy for some years.
Bim Afolami MP said,
“In a time of intense international pressures on energy supply, it is even more important that we double down on our plans to deliver a clean, homegrown energy supply in the UK. We can be a global leader on delivering new technologies and scaling up existing renewable and sustainable energy supply – allowing us to export that knowledge and technology across the world.
“The UK’s transition to a low-carbon economy is one of the key challenges of the next few decades. It is vital that Government works with and listens to and works with industry as we seek to meet that challenge. The benefits of doing so will be bigger than to deliver clean energy; it will be felt in the pockets of every family in Hitchin & Harpenden as we insulate them against global price shocks.
“I will continue to use my position on the BEIS select committee to ensure that government, industry, and the public are ready to face that challenge, while using this important platform to emphasise the issues that matter for Hitchin & Harpenden.”
