Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what recent assessment he has made of the environmental impact of HS2.

An environmental statement has been prepared for each phase of HS2, which sets out a detailed assessment of the likely significant environmental effects of building and operating the railway, as well as proposed ways to avoid, reduce, mitigate and monitor the environmental effects.

The Environmental Statement for Phase 1 is available here: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/hs2-phase-one-environmental-statement-documents

The Environmental Statement for Phase 2a is available here: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/hs2-phase-2a-environmental-statement

The Working Draft Environmental Statement for Phase 2b is available here https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/hs2-phase-2b-working-draft-environmental-statement

In April this year, the Government published a Full Business Case for HS2, which included a section on decarbonisation and sustainability. This is available here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/hs2-phase-one-full-business-case

Following the launch of construction of Phase One, HS2 Ltd will begin publishing an annual environmental sustainability report, from 2021 onwards, which will provide updates on a range of environmental impacts, such as carbon and biodiversity, alongside the associated mitigation measures being delivered as part of the HS2 Green Corridor initiative.