Tory peer John Selwyn Gummer spoke in support of measures that would benefit green businesses that paid his private company more than £600,000 during a dozen House of Lords debates, The Mail on Sunday can reveal.
The former Minister, who has been chairman of the independent Committee on Climate Change (CCC) since 2012, is being investigated by Standards Commissioner Lucy Scott-Moncrieff over claims that he breached the Lords' Code of Conduct by failing to declare his interest in Sancroft International – his family consultancy – and its green technology clients.
The probe was triggered in part by allegations from five MPs that he had backed measures that could benefit Sancroft's clients in three Lords debates – but our investigation suggests he did so on a further nine occasions.
Green probe: The former Environment Minister is being investigated over claims that he breached the Lords' Code of Conduct
They include three contributions to a debate on an Energy Bill going through Parliament in July 2013.
During the debate, the former Environment Secretary, who became Lord Deben in 2010, told peers that carbon-free electricity was the 'key to the future' and that it was important not to restrict the activities of companies which made power from biological sources such as food waste and wood.
Such firms include Saria, a biofuel producer, which has paid more than £183,000 to Sancroft. In June 2015, Lord Deben used another Lords debate to call on the Government to 'give security' to companies investing in low-carbon generation.
By then, Sancroft's clients included Temporis Capital, venture capitalists with interests in wind farms and solar energy projects, which paid £50,000 to the consultancy.
Speaking about the EU Withdrawal Bill in the Lords last year, the peer said that Britain must maintain EU rules on the environment after Brexit.
That would include the EU Renewables Directive, which says 20
