Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what steps he is taking to implement climate change policies that (a) ensure the UK makes a proportionate contribution to limiting global temperature increase to 1.5°C above pre-industrial temperatures, (b) accurately record all UK carbon emissions, including shipping and aviation, (c) protect and restore diverse habitats along overseas supply chains and (d) restore UK soils, wildlife habitats and species populations.

As the independent Climate Change Committee recognise, we have made world-leading progress in cutting our emissions while growing the economy. Since setting our net zero target, we have announced my Rt hon Friend the Prime Minister’s Ten Point Plan, as well as our Energy White Paper, which demonstrates our commitment to eradicating our contribution to climate change by 2050.

For its carbon targets, the UK follows the agreed international approach for estimating and reporting greenhouse gas emissions under the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change and the Kyoto Protocol, which is for countries to report the emissions produced within their territories. We are considering recommendations on International Aviation and Shipping carefully ahead of setting the sixth carbon budget.

The UK will be dedicating at least £3bn of international climate finance in the next five years to climate change solutions that protect and restore nature. In 2019, we launched the Global Resource Initiative (GRI) to advise on reducing the deforestation impacts of key UK supply chains. The GRI published 14 recommendations for action and government responded in November 2020, detailing how it would take this forward. As part of its COP26 Presidency, the UK also launched the Forest, Agriculture and Commodity Trade (FACT) dialogue to bring together governments of major producer and consumer countries to agree actions which reduce deforestation.

We are committed to protecting and restoring the UK’s natural environment. The 25 Year Environment Plan will create or restore 500,000 hectares of wildlife-rich habitat in England. We have also doubled funding to £80m for the Green Recovery Challenge Fund to kick start a programme of nature-based projects to address the twin challenges of halting biodiversity loss and tackling climate change.