Lord Callanan
Biography
Lord Callanan was appointed Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Minister for Energy Efficiency and Green Finance) at the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero on 7 February 2023.
He was previously Parliamentary Under Secretary of State at the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy from 14 February 2020 to 7 February 2023, and Minister of State at the Department for Exiting the European Union from 27 October 2017 to 31 January 2020.
Education
He was educated at Newcastle Polytechnic where he gained a Bachelor of Science degree (BSc) in electrical and electronic engineering.
Political career
Callanan was a Conservative Councillor on Tyne and Wear County Council between 1983 and 1986 and Gateshead Metropolitan Borough Council between 1987 and 1996.
He was a Member of the European Parliament for the North East England constituency from 1999, re-elected in 2004 and 2009.
He became the leader of the European Conservatives and Reformists group from 2011-2014.
Callanan was created a Life Peer on 24 September 2014 taking the title Baron Callanan, of Low Fell in the County of Tyne and Wear.
He was Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for the Department for Transport between June and October 2017.
Career outside politics
He worked as a project engineer at Scottish and Newcastle breweries from 1986 to 1998.
Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Minister for Energy Efficiency and Green Finance)
The minister is responsible for:
- green finance
- energy efficiency and demand reduction
- industrial decarbonisation and emissions trading, including fuel switching, energy efficiency and electrification
- clean heat, including the Boiler Upgrade Scheme
- smart meters
- heat networks
- local authority decarbonisation
- carbon capture, utilisation and storage (CCUS)
- hydrogen
- Salix Finance Ltd