Climate Change: Advisory Bodies

(asked on 18th March 2021) - View Source

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, with reference to the UK hosting COP26, what steps he is taking to ensure there are no conflicts of interest on the (a) Committee on Climate Change and (b) other Government climate advisory boards.


Answered by
Anne-Marie Trevelyan Portrait
Anne-Marie Trevelyan
Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
This question was answered on 26th March 2021

This November, the UK will host COP26 in Glasgow bringing together world leaders, climate experts, business leaders and citizens to agree ambitious action to tackle climate change. We are setting out ambitious plans across key sectors of the economy, and ahead of COP26 we will be publishing further plans including a comprehensive Net Zero Strategy. We are extremely grateful to our independent advisors, the Climate Change Committee (CCC), for their expert analysis and advice in this process, including their recommendations on the level of the Sixth Carbon Budget published in December 2020.

The Government expects all holders of public office to work to the highest personal and professional standards. According to the Code of Conduct for Board Members of Public Bodies, members must ensure that no conflict arises, or could reasonably be perceived to arise, between their public duties and their private interests, financial or otherwise.

In order to prevent conflict of interests within the CCC, BEIS carries out thorough due diligence exercises on each new member prior to approving their appointment. The CCC also have their own conflict of interest policies, which require members and staff to recognise and disclose activities that might give rise to actual or perceived conflicts of interest.

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