Lords Caught With Snouts in #NetZero Trough

Lords Deben and Barwell caught hiding their involvement in companies with interests in renewables

Lords Deben and Barwell have been caught not properly declaring their interests. By pure coincidence, some of these interests are in companies providing services to the renewable energy/sustainability sector.

In summary, Lord Deben, chair of the Climate Change Committee, seems to be benefitting from undeclared interests in a company involved in clean energy. Lord Barwell accused others of being paid to spread disinformation about Net Zero when he had undeclared interests in companies benefiting from Net Zero policies.

[Update 20 April 2023] It has been reported by Private Eye that Chris Skidmore MP, author of the Review into Net Zero has been receiving a salary equivalent to £80,000/year as an adviser to Emissions Capture Company that hopes to set up an air pollution remediation hub” in the UK to capture carbon dioxide. No wonder Skidmore urged the Government to incentivise investment into engineered greenhouse gas removals.

Chris Skidmore MP Conflict of Interest Receiving £80K/year from Emissions Capture Limited

[/Update]

The level of hypocrisy and deceit is astonishing. If Rishi Sunak is serious about presiding over a Government of “integrity, professionalism and accountability at every level”, then members of the Lords ought to follow the same code of conduct. These two ought to be stripped of their positions and titles.

Lord Deben Fails to Declare Interest in Sustainable Development Capital LLP

Let’s start with Lord Deben, formerly known as John Selwyn Gummer. The Telegraph has reported that Sancroft International posted an online job advertisement for a sustainability/ESG analyst that listed Sustainable Development Capital LLP (SDCL) had been a recent client.

SDCL’s website says they have “a proven track record of financing and developing clean energy, energy efficiency and decentralised energy infrastructure projects in the UK, Continental Europe, North America and Asia”. Lord Deben has not listed SDCL in his register of interests.

In addition, it has been reported that Sancroft provided advice to Qatari ministers. Qatar supplied nearly half of Britain’s natural gas imports in 2020. Sancroft also advises Greencoat Capital that describes itself as “a specialist manager dedicated to the renewable energy infrastructure sector.” Unsurprisingly, Lord Deben has gone on record criticising the Truss Government’s plan to lift the ban on fracking.

Figure 1 - Lord Deben Register of Interests 2023-02-13

By pure coincidence, Lord Deben is also the Chair of the Committee on Climate Change. It is easy to see how the advice of the Climate Change Committee might be tainted by both his declared and undeclared interests. Surely, it is not appropriate for the Chair of the CCC to remain in position when he has interests that reveal a clear conflict.

Lord Barwell Hides Involvement with Arcadis and Avonhurst

Lord Barwell, formerly known as Gavin Barwell, has recently been criticised in a House of Lords report for not properly declaring his interests. He runs a company called Gavin Barwell Consulting Limited and failed to register all of his clients. He has been forced to write a public apology and is now taking a leave of absence from the Lords.

His interests have now been declared. His clients include engineering consultancy Arcadis NV, accountants PwC, insurer Canopius, and law firms Avonhurst and DLA Piper.

Figure 2 - Gavin Barwell Register of Interests 2023-02-01

Arcadis claims to help “clients transition towards low-carbon and renewable sources of energy”. Avonhurst claims to advise on renewable energy deals including hydro, wind and solar. DLA piper claims to be the leading law firm in renewable energy. Canopius writes insurance for wind, solar and hydro projects. PwC advises renewable energy companies.

In another remarkable coincidence, Gavin Barwell took to Twitter last week suggesting that Darren Grimes was “being paid to spread disinformation” because Darren had the temerity to criticise Net Zero policies.

Figure 3 - Gavin Barwell Suggests Darren Grimes being paid to spread disinformation about #NetZero

The level of hypocrisy on display is staggering. Just days after being criticised by the House of Lords for not properly declaring his interests in companies deeply involved in renewables and Net Zero, he has the brass neck to suggest others are being secretly paid to spread disinformation. A temporary leave of absence is not enough. He should stand down completely from the House of Lords.

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