Prospective EA chair refuses to divest from firm chosen for government project

theguardian.com:

The prospective new chair of the Environment Agency is refusing to divest his shareholding in a hydrogen and carbon capture company chosen for a major government project.

Alan Lovell stood down as a director of Progressive Energy last month, according to Companies House records, two days after being announced as the preferred candidate for the role running England’s environmental watchdog.

The company leads the North West Hynet project, which has been chosen by ministers to drive decarbonisation in the north-west and north Wales as part of a £1bn push for carbon capture and hydrogen in the UK net zero strategy.

The committee on climate change said in a 2019 progress report that in order to develop hydrogen options, significant volumes of the gas must be produced to low-carbon standards at multiple industrial clusters.

MPs were told this week that Lovell had put his role as chair of a “renewable energy” company into his declaration of interests. They were told he had stepped down and had proposed that his financial interest in the firm could be managed by him recusing himself from decisions relating to the company.

But Sir Robert Goodwill, the chair of the environment food and rural affairs (Efra) committee, asked: “Would it not be more effective or less of a risk to divest?”

Lovell replied: “I don’t feel that I need to do that.”

The accountant and businessman, who has made a name stepping in to rescue failing companies, including a failed attempt to shore up the construction firm Carillion, said he felt MPs should be pleased he had been engaged in investment in important sectors.

“I regard the CCS [carbon capture and storage] and hydrogen sector as an extremely important one. I have been investing in it since 2009,” he said.