Asked by: Anna Gelderd (Labour - South East Cornwall)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment he has made of the implications for his policies of the European Chemical Agency's decision to restrict per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances.
Answered by Emma Hardy - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
We actively monitor measures being considered in other jurisdictions to inform possible approaches in the UK, including the European Chemical Agency’s proposals for PFAS restrictions. The Health and Safety Executive is due to publish its dossier investigating whether to restrict the use, manufacture and sale of PFAS in fire fighting foams soon, for a six-month consultation. This dossier has included extensive analysis of risks and hazards of PFAS that are relevant to other uses and sets a firm foundation for further investigation of PFAS risks in Great Britain. Other work is continuing across Government to help us assess levels of PFAS occurring in the environment, their sources and potential risks to inform future measures.
Asked by: Anna Gelderd (Labour - South East Cornwall)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps his Department is taking to prepare for the UK-China Environment Dialogue in 2025.
Answered by Mary Creagh - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Defra is working with China’s Ministry of Ecology and the Environment to agree the timing and scope of an Environmental Dialogue, in line with our commitment to do so within 12 months of the signing of the Environment Memorandum of Understanding signed between the two parties in October 2024.
Asked by: Anna Gelderd (Labour - South East Cornwall)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment his Department has made of the potential merits of implementing Schedule 17 of the Environment Act before the 30th session of the Conference of the Parties to UNFCCC (COP 30) in November 2025.
Answered by Mary Creagh - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The UK strongly supports global efforts to protect forests, including advocating for the international commitment to halt and reverse forest loss and land degradation by 2030, while supporting livelihoods and economic development.
We will set out our approach to addressing deforestation in the UK’s supply chains in due course.
Asked by: Anna Gelderd (Labour - South East Cornwall)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what recent progress his Department has made on the implementation of 10 Point Plan for financing biodiversity; and if he plans to publish an update on implementation before the 30th session of the Conference of the Parties of the UNFCCC (COP 30) in November 2025.
Answered by Mary Creagh - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The 10 Point Plan (10PP) for Financing Biodiversity was launched in December 2022 by the former government and preceded agreement of the comprehensive Kunming Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework (KMGBF).
This government is committed to delivering on all the KMGBF targets, including those related to the mobilisation of finance for biodiversity. Most recently at the 16th Conference of Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD CoP16) we published the Biodiversity Trends Dashboard to help track progress towards meeting nature finance targets. We expect to update this prior to UNFCCC COP30. We also secured the new Cali Fund which will help ensure the fair and equitable sharing of benefits arising from the use of genetic information derived from nature - directly supporting Indigenous Peoples and local communities. The UK government also co-sponsored the International Advisory Panel on Biodiversity Credits (IAPB), alongside France, helping to deliver a Framework for High Integrity Biodiversity Credit Markets.
Our seventh UK national report under the CBD will provide an update on our progress in delivering the KMGBF targets. This is due by February 2026.
Asked by: Anna Gelderd (Labour - South East Cornwall)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, if she will make an assessment with Cabinet colleagues of the potential impact of the level of global deforestation on economic growth in the UK in the next five years.
Answered by Mary Creagh - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Government has no plans to assess how global deforestation specifically will affect the UK’s economic growth over the next five years. However, economic growth will be considered along with other factors in shaping our policy on deforestation. We are currently reviewing how to address deforestation in UK supply chains and will outline our approach in due course.
Asked by: Anna Gelderd (Labour - South East Cornwall)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, pursuant to the Answer of 7 April 2025 to Question 43003 on Chemicals Regulation, if he will publish the projected cost of UK REACH to the Environment Agency in the 2025-26 financial year.
Answered by Emma Hardy - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Environment Agency has been allocated £1.8 million from Defra in 2025/26 to deliver its statutory duties under UK REACH.
Asked by: Anna Gelderd (Labour - South East Cornwall)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment he has made of the potential impact of UK imports of commodities on the financial value of deforested land.
Answered by Mary Creagh - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
From our modelling we know that the UK consumption of agricultural commodities was associated with 35,600 hectares of deforestation worldwide in 2022 and 12.7 million tonnes of associated carbon emissions. The UK is estimated to have been the 15th largest driver of deforestation that year. The UK Government places an economic cost of £260 per tonne of carbon emitted, and the value of ecosystem services that forests provide are estimated to range from £9,000-£22,000 per hectare depending on whether they are tropical, which would include the Amazon, or temperate.
Asked by: Anna Gelderd (Labour - South East Cornwall)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment he has made of the potential impact of deforestation in the Amazon rainforest on the UK economy.
Answered by Mary Creagh - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
From our modelling we know that the UK consumption of agricultural commodities was associated with 35,600 hectares of deforestation worldwide in 2022 and 12.7 million tonnes of associated carbon emissions. The UK is estimated to have been the 15th largest driver of deforestation that year. The UK Government places an economic cost of £260 per tonne of carbon emitted, and the value of ecosystem services that forests provide are estimated to range from £9,000-£22,000 per hectare depending on whether they are tropical, which would include the Amazon, or temperate.
Asked by: Anna Gelderd (Labour - South East Cornwall)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps he plans to take to help tackle the impact of Per- and Polyfluorinated Alkyl Substances in the marine environment.
Answered by Emma Hardy - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The UK Government is working closely with domestic regulators and key stakeholders to improve wider understanding and approach to managing the risks from PFAS. This includes working with the Environment Agency (EA) to assess levels of PFAS occurring in the environment, their sources, and potential risks to inform future policy and regulatory approaches. My department has asked the Health and Safety Executive to consider a UK REACH Restriction on PFAS in firefighting foams, and a proposal is due to be published soon. Internationally, PFAS were added to the OSPAR List of Chemicals for Priority Action in 2023. This list identifies substances considered to be a threat to the marine environment and the actions that OSPAR Contracting Parties (including the UK) should take to minimise those threats.
Asked by: Anna Gelderd (Labour - South East Cornwall)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps he plans to take to further restrict the use of Per- and Polyfluorinated Alkyl Substances where there are clear alternatives.
Answered by Emma Hardy - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Following the publication of a Regulatory Management Options Analysis (RMOA) on PFAS in April 2023, my department asked the Health & Safety Executive (HSE) to investigate whether to restrict PFAS in firefighting foams under the UK REACH (Restriction, Evaluation, Authorisation & Restriction of Chemicals) regime. HSE’s restriction dossier is due to be published for consultation in Spring 2025. Alongside this, my department is also considering further measures on PFAS.