Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the The State of the Planet address by the United Nations Secretary-General at Columbia University on 2 December.

The Secretary General's speech was the latest of a number of clarion calls he has made for action to address the biodiversity and climate change crises we face today.

The Government shares the Secretary General's concern. That is why the UK helped drive discussions to deliver the Leaders' Pledge for Nature, which was signed by 77 countries (including the UK) at the UN General Assembly in September, setting out urgent actions to tackle the international biodiversity and climate crises. In addition, as the Secretary General highlighted, the UK has already put in place commitments to deliver on many of his imperatives domestically. These include our commitment to become carbon neutral by 2050 and the replacement of existing area based agricultural payments so that farmers will in future be paid for work that enhances the environment, such as tree or hedge planting, river management to mitigate flooding, or creating or restoring habitats for wildlife.

The need for a green and resilient recovery from the current pandemic is something which the UK is firmly committed to and the ten-point plan for a green industrial revolution, which we published in November, will be central to delivering that. Whether in terms of delivering more renewable energy and lower emissions or additional protection of our natural environment, our plan will deliver on many of the Secretary General's calls and demonstrates UK leadership in doing so.

As the Secretary General outlined, 2020 was meant to be a "super year" for both biodiversity and the climate. That focus has now shifted to next year and we are committed to using the opportunities provided by our G7 Presidency and our Presidency of the UNFCCC CoP26, as well as opportunities provided by the CBD CoP 15, the UN Food Systems Summit and the UN Decade of Ecosystem restoration which will be launched in 2021, to demonstrate UK leadership and to drive global actions, not just words to address the crises.