Red-hot conversations during conference season
Over the last week, IGEM Chief Executive Officer Oliver Lancaster has rubbed shoulders with senior politicians at both the Labour and Conservative Party Conferences.
Meeting with government ministers and industry leaders, Oliver used these conferences as the perfect opportunity to highlight the role of gas in delivering the UK’s net zero transition.
During the three-day Labour event, Oliver took part in a series of high-level discussions, including a one-to-one meeting with Ed Miliband, Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero (DESNZ).
Their conversation focused on the UK Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS) and its potential to accelerate decarbonisation. The UK ETS, introduced after Brexit to replace the EU scheme, puts a price on carbon emissions from energy-intensive industries, power generation and aviation.
Oliver urged: “Unlike the EU equivalent, the UK ETS counts biomethane as a fossil fuel rather than as a renewable fuel. This is a key issue for the government’s Clean Power 2030 mission, which desperately needs flexible low carbon generation to fill the gap between what is generated from wind, solar and nuclear, and the five per cent of power that is allowed to be generated by fossil fuel under the rules of the mission.
“Biomethane is a significant insurance policy for Chris Stark’s team in DESNZ and this issue needs resolving urgently.”
At a roundtable on biomethane, the importance of gas to UK food supply chains was made evident when one of the manufacturers explained that many of the crisps on UK supermarket shelves depend on natural gas, and they need to procure green gas.
Oliver added: “It’s not just power generation that needs this change to be made – industry is crying out for it, too. Who would have thought that biomethane is needed to keep our crisp manufacturing going.
“Meanwhile, we’ve had 86 requests in GB for gas network connections for data centres in 2025 alone. There’s a very clear demand for biomethane coming from this important sector, which is bringing much inward investment with it.”
The Secretary of State agreed enthusiastically that this change needed to be done right away and was perplexed that this change hadn’t already been done.
Oliver has followed-up the meeting with a letter to Ed Miliband and suggested it would be prudent to also allow for blended low carbon hydrogen to be treated in the same way as for biomethane in the UK-ETS.
While in Liverpool, Ollie also held valuable discussions with Michael Shanks MP, Minister for Energy in DESNZ; Tom Collins MP, Chair of the APPG on Hydrogen; Vaughan Gething, former First Minister of Wales; Chris Huhne, former Secretary of State for the Department of Energy & Climate Change and now Chair of ADBA; Clare Jackson, CEO of Hydrogen UK; Greg Jackson, founder and CEO of Octopus Energy; Guy Newey, Chief Executive Officer at Energy Systems Catapult; Chris O’Shea, CEO of Centrica; Toby Perkins MP, Chair of the Environmental Audit Committee; Andy Prendergast, GMB National Secretary; and Laura Sandys, Chair of the Green Alliance.
The IGEM chief also joined the Hybrid Heating Private Lunch, which brought together leading voices to explore how the gas and electricity systems can work together to decarbonise heat, not just in domestic properties, but in commercial and industrial settings too.
Over at the Conservative Party Conference, Oliver took advantage of similar opportunities to engage with politicians and industry leaders in the exhibition hall and at the range of fringe events.
Notably there was a packed event which explored an alternative approach to decarbonising energy to that being delivered through the government’s current activities headlined by the Clean Power 2030 Mission.
Some very relevant fringe sessions held in the Conservative Environment Network tent included a lively panel discussion co-hosted by the Green Gas Taskforce, which explored the potential for biomethane in achieving net zero targets and how prices can reduce over time whilst benefiting the agricultural community along the way.
Recent research from Cadent and Baringa was highlighted, which reveals that scaling biomethane production from sustainable feedstocks can reduce the cost of reaching net zero by £150-220 billion.
The other event in this tent explored the role of hydrogen in industry, where Oliver reminded delegates of the UK gas grid’s 67,000 industrial connections – mainly distributed at lower pressure tiers – and suggested how the UK could give them a route to decarbonise affordably through hydrogen blending.
Reflecting on the events, Oliver said: “Attending the conferences is so valuable. Not only are there opportunities to engage directly with politicians at planned fringe events, such as roundtable dinners and panel sessions, but also at unplanned moments in social events organised by public affairs agencies and unions.
“Above all, the best reason to be here is because nearly all of the key individuals involved in designing our future energy system are all present in a small area, meaning you can have conversations and carry out engagement in the space of a few hours that would otherwise take a few weeks of concerted effort.”