State of Climate and Nature

Lord Sharma Excerpts

Monday 21st July 2025 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Hayman of Ullock (Lab)]

I thank the noble Lord for his very kind comments. He talked about science. It is worth pointing out that the Met Office published, alongside the Statement, State of the UK Climate 2024. That clearly shows that the UK’s climate is getting hotter and wetter, with more extreme weather events. We have also published several reports around protected landscapes targets, the outcomes framework and how we can unlock benefits for people. A lot of work is going on. It needs to come together if we are successfully to tackle the impacts of climate change so that we do not suffer more devastation in the future than it looks like are doing at the moment.

[Lord Sharma (Con)]

My Lords, I also welcome this Statement from the Government, particularly the commitment to deliver it annually. However, we need to see more engagement with the public. The Climate Change Committee, in its report The Seventh Carbon Budget, stated very clearly that we need to see more public information campaigns, so that people can understand the benefits of climate action and the climate actions available to them. Can the Minister update the House on what the Government’s climate engagement strategy is when it comes to the public?

[Baroness Hayman of Ullock (Lab)]

The noble Lord asks an excellent question, and I thank him for all his work in this sphere. It has been really important that we have had cross-party work on this over a number of years. Part of the reason for laying the Statement is that the Government believe that we have a duty to inform the British people about the scale of the climate and nature crises and the actions that government is taking in response. That is the start of a broader public discussion around this. If we are to move into a very different way of working in respect of energy—for example, moving away from fossil fuels and expecting people to make decisions about their heating, the cars that they drive and the costs of bills, as has been discussed—it is extremely important that we bring the public with us.