Darren Jones

Darren Jones    (solicitor, politician)
Born	Darren Paul Jones 13 November 1986
Alma mater	University of Plymouth, University of the West of England
Member of	Labour Friends of Israel
Chair of the Business,  Energy and Industrial Strategy Select Committee In office 6 May 2020 - Present  Member of Parliament for Bristol North West In office 8 June 2017 - Present

Darren Jones (born 13 November 1986) is a British Labour politician serving as Chair of the House of Commons Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy Select Committee since 2020. He has been the Member of Parliament for Bristol North West since 2017.

Darren Jones also runs Labour Digital, a Labour Party think tank.

BEIS Committee Inquiry

The Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy Select Committee has launched a standing inquiry on the UK’s ‘Net Zero’ target and the UN Climate Summits. The BEIS Committee expects this inquiry to run for the duration of this Parliament. It will consider issues including:

• Progress in delivering the UK’s 2050 net zero target;
• Progress in cutting emissions to meet the UK’s five-yearly Carbon Budgets;
• The role of BEIS in leading climate change mitigation policy across Government;
• The potential role of business and industry in the net zero agenda;
• Preparations for the 2021 Climate Summit in Glasgow, and the UK’s performance as Summit host;
• The ongoing role of the UK in international climate talks and initiatives to tackle climate change.

Background

On 27 June 2019 the UK’s ‘Net Zero’ target came into force, setting a new goal to reduce the UK’s greenhouse gas emissions by at least 100% (compared to 1990 levels) by 2050. The Net Zero target replaces the UK’s previous goal to reduce UK emissions by 80% by 2050, established by the Climate Change Act 2008.

The net zero target aligns UK legislation with the ambitions of the Paris Agreement, as agreed by the world’s nations at the 2015 UN Climate Summit (COP21). The Paris Agreement sets an aim to limit global temperature rise to "well below 2°C" above pre-industrial levels and to "pursue efforts to limit the increase to 1.5°C".

In September 2019 the UK was awarded the Presidency of the next UN Climate Summit (COP26), in partnership with Italy. The Summit will now take place in Glasgow from 1 to 12 November 2021.

Calls for evidence

The Committee is working with the Parliamentary Office for Science and Technology (POST) on a survey of priorities for COP26, the results of which will feed into this inquiry. As part of this exercise POST is also creating a database of COP26 experts. This is an invitation to anyone with expertise in areas relating to COP26 to provide feedback. For more information and to take the survey please visit https://post.parliament.uk/horizon-scanning/cop26-expert-database/.

We are not currently inviting written submissions for this inquiry. As the inquiry progresses, we may issue a targeted call for evidence on a specific issue. If you would like to provide any information or have any queries regarding this inquiry please email us at beiscom@parliament.uk.

Call for action

On 5 March 2021, BEIS Committee published a separate report on Friday calling on Ministers to be clearer about the goals of the climate conference and its Chair Darren Jones called for more action before COP26. Jones said:

“The budget was clearly not good enough in terms of reaching net zero. There is a gap between what the government says and what it is doing on green issues. We need to get our own house in order before COP26.”

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