The state energy company of Great Britain may not use solar panels linked to the work of Chinese slaves, under changes in government plans.
The Secretary of Energy, Ed Miliband, will introduce an amendment to the legislation to ensure that there is no slavery in the GB Energy supply chains.
It occurs after the ministers rejected an amendment to a bill last month that would have prevented spending money in GB energy on solar panels where supply chains had “credible evidence of modern slavery.”
The production of solar panels in the Xinjiang region of China has been related to the supposed exploitation of Uigures Muslims.
China has dominated the renovations market and up to 50% of the World Polisilicio supply, a key component in the solar panels, comes from the Xinjiang region.
It is a dilemma for the United Kingdom, which imports more than 40% of its China photovoltaic solar energy, according to HMRC data.
The boxes of labor parliamentarians abstained in a vote on the amendment that was presented by Crossbench, Lord Alton, when the great British energy bill was in the House of Lords.
A government source told the BBC since then “there has been recognition of the argument that GB Energy should be an industry leader.”
There is a praise of the international community by the international community for the change of meaning. Fatih Birol, head of the International Energy Agency, told the BBC: “I really greet the decision of the United Kingdom.”
He said that the materials for green technology are important, but that “they should really occur in a social and acceptable environment way.”
Labor parliamentarians who have been asking for change are seeing it as a victory.
The conservative secretary of the shadow of the shadow, Andrew Bowie, said that the amendment was a “humiliating turn of Ed Miliband.”
In an X publication, he said that this was a “great blow” for the government’s objectives about the increase in renewable energy.
Sir Iain Duncan Smith, the former conservative leader who has campaigned for a long time for a tougher position in the United Kingdom in China, said the government would have faced a great rebellion if it had introduced this change.
“I hope and I think they are seeing meaning and realize that it is a terrible situation to allow products to have been produced by slave labor,” he told the BBC.
The text of the new amendment has not yet published the leg, but the change of GB Energy’s objectives and guarantees that slavery and human trafficking are not taking place in the supply chains it uses.
But achieving this is likely to be difficult and have a significant challenge for many industries supplying from the region.
Previous BBC reports have discovered the use of slave labor in the manufacture of cotton and solar panels for use in the United Kingdom, which were previously denied by the Chinese government.
In 2023, the BBC reported that the British army was using solar panels made by companies claimed to have a “very high” exposure to forced labor in China.
Luke of Pulford, executive director of the Interparliamentary Alliance on China (IPAC), told the BBC “there is a problem in the way in which during the renewable energy sector with forced labor with state tax in China.”
The Government could consider prohibiting the use of solar panels in the Xinjiang region.
When asked how difficult it would be for the Government to increase its renewable energies without buying solar panels of Chinese companies potentially exposed to slave work, Mr. Pulford said: “A domain or production of?
Government sources denied that the change had an impact on the zero net ambitions of the government, insisting that there was capacity in the supply chains of solar panels.
An energy security and Net zero spokesperson department said: “No industry in the United Kingdom should depend on forced labor, and through great British energy we have a clear plan to build the necessary supply chains of energy, bring and eigars.
“We are working throughout the government to address the issue of forced labor in the solar supply chains, and the relaunched solar work group is focusing on the development supply chains that are resistant, sustainable and free of forced labor.
“Having carefully listed the opinions of parliamentarians and peers, we are preserving how we can go further to help ensure that great British energy is a sector leader in this area and we will provide an update shortly.”
