In full: Our interview with Amber Rudd, new UK secretary of state for energy and climate
The new UK government is falling into place after Thursday’s election results — and Amber Rudd, MP for Hastings and Rye, has been appointed secretary of state for energy and climate change.
We were lucky enough to get a short (four-questions only) Twitter interview with her the week before the election — and here it is in full:
@Unearthed Because of the devastating impact it could have nationally and internationally, unless we take action and do what we can.
— Amber Rudd MP (@AmberRuddhr) April 29, 2015
@Unearthed Remember too, in 1989 at the UN Margaret Thatcher was the first world leader to sound the alarm on the threat of global warming — Amber Rudd MP (@AmberRuddhr) April 29, 2015
@Unearthed Our Manifesto sets out our long-term plan to keep the lights on, keep homes warm, keep families from worrying about energy bills — Amber Rudd MP (@AmberRuddhr) April 29, 2015
@Unearthed …the goal must be warmer homes for less! — Amber Rudd MP (@AmberRuddhr) April 29, 2015
@Unearthed …we differ from Labour by having a strong record of delivery on renewable energy. — Amber Rudd MP (@AmberRuddhr) April 29, 2015
So far, so simple. Then some other Twitterers weighed in with their own questions and comments, making this one of the more interesting of our seven interviews:
@AmberRuddhr @Unearthed Hi Amber, can you confirm if the ‘halt’ to onshore wind farms covers small turbines benefiting from feed-in tariff? — James Murray (@James_BG) April 29, 2015
@AmberRuddhr @Unearthed And how will Conservative approach to decarbonisation will be lower cost than Lab & Lib Dems? — James Murray (@James_BG) April 29, 2015
@James_BG @AmberRuddhr We have serious concerns @ manifesto commitment to insulate 1m homes in next Parliament 80% fewer than last 5 yrs. — Nat Insulation Assoc (@NIALtd) April 29, 2015
.@amberruddhr @energydesk but Cons have pledged to end onshore wind subsidies, effectively killing an industry worth £900m to UK economy — Trillion Fund (@TrillionFund) April 29, 2015
Rudd seemed happy to be involved in this evolving Q&A/Twitter chat session, replying to a few questions (and perhaps missing a few too — as everything was moving so fast).
There were questions on innovation, which ended in a discussion about carbon capture and storage (read our piece on this here):
@hannon_matthew @Unearthed DECC supports innovation through investment and guidance. V exciting possibilities re tidal energy. — Amber Rudd MP (@AmberRuddhr) April 29, 2015
@hannon_matthew @Unearthed Yes, we are working to develop carbon capture storage which could provide critical decarbonisation in the future — Amber Rudd MP (@AmberRuddhr) April 29, 2015
@AmberRuddhr @Unearthed @hannon_matthew Other countries already well ahead of UK in this & UK has no CC tech company. — Dick Winchester (@DickWinchester) April 29, 2015
And one on solar schools:
@1annawatson @Unearthed 99% of solar has happened under this Government, we are committed to helping schools & public buildings acc solar. — Amber Rudd MP (@AmberRuddhr) April 29, 2015
Our interview continued with our third question:
@Unearthed We’ve been the #greenestgovernmentever – setting up world 1st Green Investment Bank + trebling renewables generation to 19%. — Amber Rudd MP (@AmberRuddhr) April 29, 2015
@Unearthed We’ve delivered energy efficiency measures to over 1M homes, 0.5M homes have solar PV on roofs.
— Amber Rudd MP (@AmberRuddhr) April 29, 2015
And so did the public chat:
@TheMushyPea @Unearthed I also want to see businesses to make commitments on climate change + drive behaviours + boost innovation…
— Amber Rudd MP (@AmberRuddhr) April 29, 2015
@hannon_matthew @Unearthed @AmberRuddhr They won’t. They’ll let other countries produce the tech so we can buy what we want when we want it
— Dick Winchester (@DickWinchester) April 29, 2015
@DickWinchester @hannon_matthew @Unearthed Not the case, e.g. we have more offshore wind than the rest of the world put together.
— Amber Rudd MP (@AmberRuddhr) April 29, 2015
@AmberRuddhr @hannon_matthew @Unearthed It is true! All those turbines were imported. Here in Scot £8bn worth have been imported.
— Dick Winchester (@DickWinchester) April 29, 2015
And for our final question we go global and look to the (very near) future:
@Unearthed David Cameron has personally committed to pushing for a global deal to limit warming to two degrees…
— Amber Rudd MP (@AmberRuddhr) April 29, 2015
@Unearthed …+ has reiterated support for UK Climate Act. He is respected internationally as a leader on climate change issues.
— Amber Rudd MP (@AmberRuddhr) April 29, 2015
Rudd reaffirmed that the PM supports the UK’s Climate Change Act:
@pv_techjohn @Unearthed The PM has committed.
— Amber Rudd MP (@AmberRuddhr) April 29, 2015
And Rudd concluded the interview with a commitment to decarbonisation — as long as the price is right:
@Unearthed Thanks v much for the opportunity to reinforce commitment to decarbonising energy at an affordable price #greenestgovernmentever
— Amber Rudd MP (@AmberRuddhr) April 29, 2015