COP27 Biodiversity Day: UK Action to Support Nature and Climate

Thérèse Coffey Excerpts

Wednesday 16th November 2022 Written Statements

[The Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Dr Thérèse Coffey)]

Today, I am making a number of announcements on biodiversity day at COP27. This builds on the leadership the UK has shown throughout our COP26 presidency. We brought nature to the heart of COP for the first time in Glasgow—with more than 140 world leaders, representing 91% of the world’s forests, committing to halt and reverse forest loss and land degradation by 2030. The UK Government are continuing to demonstrate international leadership on nature and climate by:

Committing £30 million of seed finance into the Big Nature Impact fund, a new public-private fund for nature in the UK which will unlock significant private investment into nature projects;

Pledging an additional £12 million to the Ocean Risk and Resilience Action Alliance to mobilise investment in coastal and ocean natural capital;

Committing a further £6 million to provide capacity building support to developing countries to increase commitments to nature and nature-based solutions;

Announcing a new UK climate finance contribution of £5 million toward the Inter-American Development Bank’s (IDB) multi-donor trust fund for the Amazon to help tackle deforestation through community-led projects, while providing sustainable business opportunities to indigenous people whose livelihoods depend on them;

Spotlighting the vital importance of mangroves and their role in coastal resilience by endorsing the Mangrove Breakthrough led by the UNFCCC high-level champions and the Global Mangrove Alliance;

Highlighting the climate benefits of blue carbon through continued support for the new Global Ocean Decade Programme for Blue Carbon (GO-BC), which has now launched a new global graduate scheme for early career blue carbon researchers.

Global momentum is now behind plans to halt nature’s decline. I will be urging countries to build on progress at COP27 to renew action on nature and come together to agree a robust global plan for tackling nature loss at next month’s meeting of the United Nations convention on biological diversity (CBD) in Montreal.

[HCWS370]

Environment Act 2021: Targets

Thérèse Coffey Excerpts

Friday 28th October 2022 Written Statements

[The Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Dr Thérèse Coffey)]

In March 2022, the Government launched our consultation on targets relating to the Environment Act 2021, determined to leave our environment in a better state than we found it.

It included around 800 pages of evidence that were published following three years of developing the scientific and economic evidence. The consultation closed on 27 June. We received over 180,000 responses, which all needed to be analysed and carefully considered. In the light of the volume of material and the significant public response, we will not be able to publish targets by 31 October, as required by the Act. However, I would like to reassure this House and all interested parties that we will continue to work at pace in order to lay draft statutory instruments as soon as practicable.

We remain committed to our future target to halt the decline in species by 2030, as included on the face of the Environment Act, and to bring forward the wider suite of targets specified under the Act.

[HCWS347]