Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:

To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what guidance her Department has issued on considering downstream carbon emissions in planning applications.

The National Planning Policy Framework makes clear that the need to mitigate and adapt to climate change should be considered in preparing and assessing planning applications.

The government provides guidance on how carbon impacts can be taken into account in the planning process through its Planning Practice Guidance on Climate Change, the National Design Guide, and the National Model Design Code.

While these do not deal with downstream emissions specifically, the government keeps guidance under review and intends to update the Climate Change guidance to provide additional advice on taking carbon emissions into account.