Category: Environment

  • Theresa Villiers – 2021 Speech on Improving Air Quality

    Theresa Villiers – 2021 Speech on Improving Air Quality

    The speech made by Theresa Villiers, the Conservative MP for Chipping Barnet, in the House of Commons on 3 February 2021.

    I beg to move,

    That leave be given to bring in a Bill to make provision for improving air quality.

    A key part of my plan to improve life for my constituents in Chipping Barnet is cleaning up the air we breathe. Poor air quality is the greatest environmental threat to public health. Every year, thousands of people have their health damaged or their lives shortened by air pollution. This problem is especially serious in London, with many of the country’s worst pollution hotspots here in our capital city.

    Our air is now cleaner than at any point since the industrial revolution, and the Government are meeting all but one of their current air quality targets, but there is so much more work to be done. Progress has slowed in recent years and we need a concerted national effort to tackle this problem from Government, from councils, from mayors, from business, from individuals.

    The Government’s 2017 clean air strategy was praised by the World Health Organisation as

    “an example for the rest of the world to follow”,

    but we need to go further and faster. Ella Kissi-Debrah’s case should be a wake-up call for all of us. Ella was just nine years old when she suffered a fatal asthma attack in 2013. She lived just yards from the busy and congested South Circular Road, and the coroner in her case concluded that air pollution made a material contribution to her tragic death. Ella is the very first person in the United Kingdom for whom air pollution has been officially recognised as a cause of death.

    In my former role as Environment Secretary I introduced the Environment Bill to this House. This landmark new law will set a framework for a rigorous system of target-setting, monitoring and accountability, and one of the most important and ambitious elements of the Bill is the requirement to set a legally binding target to reduce PM2.5 fine particulate matter. This type of pollution does the greatest damage to human health, and I hope and expect the new target to be among the most demanding in the world. There is clear support across this House for us to be the first major developed economy to commit to getting PM2.5 particulate limits down to the 10 micrograms per cubic metre maximum recommended by the World Health Organisation. The only question is what date we set, and I appeal today to Ministers to accelerate the vital detailed research and consultation needed to make that decision and set that date as soon as possible.

    A crucial part of the action to deliver on the target when it is set is protection and enhancement of nature, and I applaud my local council, Barnet, for planting around 3,000 trees in the last two years, including 700 targeted at air quality and urban heat island purposes.

    I appeal to the Government to ensure that the planning Bill expected in the autumn maintains and strengthens protection for trees and open spaces, which provide crucial green lungs for our towns and cities. The environmental land management schemes, which will replace the EU’s common agricultural policy, can also play an important role in safeguarding nature and thus addressing pollution, and I urge the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs to ensure that these environmental schemes are used to support farming practices that emit less ammonia pollution.

    Domestic burning also makes a significant contribution to particulate pollution, and more people need to be aware of the impact of their choices in how they heat their homes. The most polluting fuels used in domestic burning are due to be banned by early 2023, and the Environment Bill will make it easier for councils to introduce smoke control zones and provide more powers to enforce them. They need to use these powers.

    Our efforts to combat climate change can also be harnessed to drive quality improvements. One of the reasons for recent progress on air quality is the UK’s success in shifting away from coal to cleaner ways to generate electricity, and of course the transition to ultra low emission driving is crucial both for our climate and our air quality goals. Encouraging cycling, walking and active travel of course has real benefits in terms of health, air quality and congestion, and I applaud projects that, for example, encourage parents and children to walk to school, but care does have to be taken with these schemes, such as cycle lanes and low traffic neighbourhoods, because if they are introduced in a hurry in the wrong place without appropriate consultation, they can inadvertently worsen air quality because of the consequent congestion they cause.

    But the really big change we need in our transport system is to ensure that we switch to cleaner cars, vans, lorries, taxis, buses and motorbikes. Nothing else is going to deliver the air quality improvements we urgently need.

    First, the Volkswagen scandal and then the collapse of the Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency prosecution of the company Klarius demonstrated that we need better enforcement of standards on tailpipe emissions and tougher sanctions when rules are broken. The Environment Bill will help, because it will mean that Ministers can require manufacturers to recall vehicles if they do not comply with environmental standards and, thus, illegally polluting vehicles will be taken off the road more quickly.

    The Government are taking forward a £3.8 billion plan to reduce harmful emissions from transport, including £1.5 billion to support the uptake of ultra-low emission vehicles and nearly half a billion to help local authorities implement air quality improvement measures.

    Last year, the Prime Minister announced £5 billion for bus services in England, including 4,000 new ultra-low emission buses. His 10-point climate plan commits to ending the sale of new petrol and diesel cars by 2030. That is one of the most aggressive targets set by any country, anywhere in the world. It will require further massive investment in research and development, to make electric cars and vans a more practical, affordable option, as well as in charging infrastructure.

    I welcome all the substantial funding currently going into climate and air quality-related technology projects, which are essential, including the £250 million Faraday challenge on batteries. In this country, we already manufacture a considerable proportion of the plug-in electric cars sold around Europe. We should use the 2030 target as an opportunity to create new green jobs. Nissan’s announcement on moving battery production to the UK is really encouraging news.

    Lastly, I ask Ministers to give priority to tackling air quality in London, because this is where the problem is most serious. London received funding for air quality as part of the £5.7 billion Transport for London funding settlement in 2015, and has received further support for individual projects of about £150 million. That includes money to retrofit buses to reduce emissions, and all London buses were due to be Euro 6 compliant by the end of last year. However, I am concerned that the Mayor of London has not made more progress on air quality or on delivering zero-emission buses, despite the significant resources he has been given by the Government to do that. His plan for a zero-emission bus fleet will take another 17 years to complete. Shaun Bailey believes progress needs to be much faster and has set out how he would do that as a Conservative Mayor for London. I am also worried that the Mayor’s mismanagement of TfL’s budget, including through the lengthy delays to Crossrail, will make it harder to deliver the investment we need to buy cleaner, greener buses.

    I have one last ask of the Government. If they are serious about air quality, they should cancel plans to build a third runway at Heathrow. Nitrogen oxides problems around the airport are already very serious, and I cannot see any way in which the promoters of the scheme can possibly find a means to comply with those limits, never mind new ones adopted under the Environment Bill, while still accommodating the huge increase in surface transport that would be generated by thousands more flights. The viability case has been severely damaged by the collapse in passenger numbers. It is time to put this misguided runway project out of its misery. It is time to clean up the air we breathe, and I commend this Bill to the House.

  • Anneliese Dodds – 2021 Comments on the Dasgupta Review

    Anneliese Dodds – 2021 Comments on the Dasgupta Review

    The comments made by Anneliese Dodds, the Shadow Chancellor of the Exchequer, on 2 February 2021.

    The Dasgupta Review sets out why we must build a more sustainable economy that delivers prosperity while protecting our environment. Nature is fundamentally undervalued and at extreme risk across Britain and the world as a result.

    We need a government that will seize this moment for global leadership ahead of the UN biodiversity conference in May, and the COP26 Glasgow Climate conference. With the UK way off meeting existing targets, action cannot come too soon.

    That’s why Labour is calling on the Conservative Government to act responsibly to support jobs and combat the environmental crisis.

    It can start by bringing forward £30 billion of capital investment to the next 18 months to support the creation of up to 400,000 clean, new jobs – twice the government’s current plans and in line with the much more ambitious green economic programmes of other nations.

  • George Eustice – 2021 Comments on Burning Heather

    George Eustice – 2021 Comments on Burning Heather

    The comments made by George Eustice, the Secretary of State for the Environment, on 29 January 2021.

    Our peatlands have great potential as a natural store of carbon, as well as protecting habitats, providing a haven for rare wildlife and being a natural provider of water regulation.

    We want to work with land owners to restore the natural hydrology of many of these sites through our new agricultural policy to support our ambitions for the environment. The burning of heather on these sites makes it more difficult to restore their natural hydrology which is why we are taking this step today.

  • Ed Miliband – 2021 Comments on Green Homes Grant Scheme

    Ed Miliband – 2021 Comments on Green Homes Grant Scheme

    The comments made by Ed Miliband, the Shadow Business Secretary, on 26 January 2021.

    This scheme has descended into an absolute fiasco. The Government needs to urgently sort out this mess and crucially make sure small businesses are paid what they are owed.

    Far from creating green jobs, the Government’s approach means workers in the renewable energy industry are actually being let go – worsening the economic crisis.

    This is yet another example of Ministers cutting corners and outsourcing to companies that just aren’t up to the task. They must come clean about the details of this contract so taxpayers know exactly what their money has been spent on.

    Instead of a piecemeal, short-term, fragmented approach, we need a proper, long-term, comprehensive plan to transform our housing stock.

  • Boris Johnson – 2021 Comments on Adaptation Action Coalition

    Boris Johnson – 2021 Comments on Adaptation Action Coalition

    The comments made by Boris Johnson, the Prime Minister, on 25 January 2021.

    It is undeniable that climate change is already upon us and is already devastating lives and economies. We must adapt to our changing climate, and we must do so now.

    I’ll be making the need for a resilient recovery a priority of the UK’s G7 presidency this year. To make sure we get not just warm words but real change, I am today launching an all-new Adaptation Action Coalition to set the agenda ahead of COP26.

    Let’s work together to adapt, to become more resilient, and to save lives and livelihoods all around the world.

  • Alok Sharma – 2021 Speech at the Climate Adaptation Summit

    Alok Sharma – 2021 Speech at the Climate Adaptation Summit

    The speech made by Alok Sharma, the President of the COP26, on 25 January 2021.

    Thank you very much distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen, excellencies.

    I would really like to thank the Netherlands for hosting this excellent summit. We have heard some brilliant submissions and real power to the messages that have been coming through. I also want to thank the Global Center on Adaptation – I see you have my friend Feike with you. And of course, Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon, for his leadership in adaptation and resilience.

    And I can tell you that as COP President this is a top priority indeed. And I know that it is the same for my dear friend Patricia Espinosa who you will hear from shortly as well.

    Building resilience into our economies and societies is absolutely urgent, and it is essential, if we are to protect human lives and livelihoods from the effects of our changing climate.

    Ultimately it requires all of us to act together: whether it’s governments or cities, or regions; businesses, investors or civil society, all of us have to act on this issue.

    Of course there is a great deal of fantastic work that is already going on.

    From cities like Port Moresby, investing in trees and mangroves to protect the City and its people from coastal flooding.

    To the Coalition for Climate Resilient Investment, which represents around $10 trillion in assets.

    Driving private finance to fund resilient infrastructure and helping investors to understand climate risk which is so vital.

    And of course today, we are launching two new campaigns to focus efforts and make progress faster.

    This morning, as you will have heard, Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced the Adaptation Action Coalition. With our partners, Egypt, Bangladesh, Malawi, St Lucia, the UN, and, of course the Netherlands.

    The Coalition will bring governments together to accelerate action ahead of COP26.

    And now it is my particular pleasure to launch the Race to Resilience campaign.

    This is a campaign that will mobilise businesses, investors, cities, civil society and others to act.

    Bringing together initiatives with the aim of building the resilience of 4 billion people across the world – that’s representing over half of the world’s population – by 2030.

    The campaign will support activities delivering for people and nature.

    For example, cities protecting people against heatwaves.

    Or small holder farmers utilising climate resilient technologies.

    And restoring deforested and degraded land.

    I would also like to thank our two brilliant Climate Champions, Nigel and Gonzalo, for the incredible effort that they have put in to make sure that this initiative happens.

    And I do think that together, these two campaigns can make a real difference to the scale and pace of adaptation and resilience across all our economies and indeed across society.

    So I will finish with an ask to everyone who is listening and watching this: the ask to governments, is please join the Adaptation Action Coalition; and to businesses, to cities, to civil society groups, please join the Race to Resilience.

    And help us, working together, to build a more resilient and better world.

    Thank you.

  • George Eustice – 2021 Comments on Storm Christoph

    George Eustice – 2021 Comments on Storm Christoph

    The comments made by George Eustice, the Secretary of State for the Environment, on 21 January 2021.

    I want to echo the Prime Minister’s thanks to the Environment Agency and emergency services for the huge amount of work they’ve done to protect over 26,000 homes and properties from flooding, keeping families and communities safe.

    However, the danger has not passed. The water levels remain high and there is the risk of possible further flooding next week so everyone needs to remain vigilant, follow the advice and sign up for flood alerts.

    This Government is committed to tackling the risk of flooding and we will continue to push on with our £5.2 billion programme of investment in flood and coastal defences to protect 336,000 properties over the next five years.

  • Rebecca Pow – 2021 Comments on the Storm Overflows Taskforce

    Rebecca Pow – 2021 Comments on the Storm Overflows Taskforce

    The comments made by Rebecca Pow, the Environment Minister, on 22 January 2021.

    Making sure we have clean rivers is an absolute priority and I have been clear that I want to cut down on the water sector’s reliance on storm overflows.

    The Storm Overflows Taskforce, established last year, is working urgently on options to tackle this issue, which demonstrates a collective commitment for change in this critical area.

    Our ambitious Environment Bill already sets out how we will tackle various sources of water pollution. I look forward to working with Philip Dunne and others on how we can accelerate progress in this area.

  • Alok Sharma – 2021 Speech at Abu Dhabi Sustainability Week

    Alok Sharma – 2021 Speech at Abu Dhabi Sustainability Week

    The speech made by Alok Sharma, the COP26 President, on 19 January 2021.

    Good afternoon.

    It is an absolute pleasure to join you today. At the beginning of what is a momentous year for our planet.

    Together we must make 2021 the year of climate action.

    And we have just ten years to bring our emissions under control. A decade to limit global temperature rises, to the levels set out in the Paris Agreement.

    The choices we make today will determine whether we or not we achieve it.

    The science is clear on the destruction we will unleash if we do not.

    Water supplies strained. Nature devastated. Human health increasingly stunted by the air we breath.

    So it is vital that we act now.

    As President of the next UN climate conference, COP26, I want this to be the year that all of us unite around the aims of the Paris Agreement.

    From governments, cities, and civil society. To businesses, investors, and development banks.

    So it is great to see Clover Hogan on today’s panel. Who is working to empower young people.

    And of course, my friend Laurent Fabius, who delivered the historic Paris Agreement.

    And Francesco La Camera. Under whose leadership, IRENA is supporting the clean energy transition around the world.

    I have four key goals.

    One, to strengthen adaptation – to respond to the realities of a changing climate.

    Two, to enhance international collaboration among governments, business and civil society.

    Of course, the UK works with the UAE on Mission Innovation, for example. Speeding up innovation in clean energy technologies.

    Three, I want to get finance flowing to climate action – both public and private.

    And I am calling on developed countries to honour their commitments on international climate finance and raise that $100 billion a year.

    And I am urging investors to take climate risk into account, and capitalise on the shift to clean, resilient growth across the world.

    I thank our hosts, Masdar, for their work on the global energy transition,

    including their support for UK offshore wind, which is powering British homes and businesses as we speak.

    The fourth, incredibly important, goal I want us to work towards is reducing emissions.

    I am calling on world leaders to come forward with ambitious Nationally Determined Contributions.

    To set out net zero targets, and long-term plans to achieve them.

    And to introduce policies to make these targets a reality.

    Phasing out fossil fuel subsidies.

    Deploying renewables faster.

    And moving to clean transport.

    I welcome the leadership the UAE has shown amongst the Gulf states.

    Its new NDC last December, setting a target that covers the whole economy,

    and some of the lowest solar power prices in the world.

    I am also urging business, cities and regions to take actions.

    To sign up to the Race to Zero campaign.

    And work to reach net zero emissions by 2050 at the latest.

    By signing up you will be joining over 450 cities, and 1400 firms which have already done so.

    Including the likes of the UAE’s Globesight, Microsoft and EDF.

    This is not just the right thing to do.

    It also helps to drive shareholder value.

    Whether it is finance, business, or our national economies, the opportunities presented by the move to clean growth are enormous.

    Once pre-election commitments made by President-elect Joe Biden are enacted, almost two-thirds of the world’s emissions will be covered by net zero commitments. A club that is growing all the time.

    Global trade in low-carbon goods and services is expected to grow up to 34 times between 2015 and 2050.

    By investing in clean sectors today, as we recover from the coronavirus pandemic, we can build clean growth into the heart of our economies.

    Creating jobs and prosperity.

    Here in the UK for example, our Ten Point Plan for a green industrial revolution will support and create a quarter of a million green jobs.

    Government investment in wind power, hydrogen, carbon capture usage and storage, electric vehicles and much more, will help to leverage in three times the amount from the private sector.

    The opportunities are there for the taking.

    So, friends, in this vital year for our planet, let’s come together.

    Let’s increase our ambition.

    And take action.

    To put the world on course for a clean and prosperous future.

  • George Eustice – 2021 Statement on the Fishing Industry

    George Eustice – 2021 Statement on the Fishing Industry

    The statement made by George Eustice, the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, in the House of Commons on 14 January 2021.

    As hon. Members will know, before Christmas the UK and the EU concluded a new trade and co-operation agreement, which established tariff-free trade in all goods and, among other things, sets a new relationship with the EU on fisheries. Before turning to the specifics of that agreement, I should briefly set the wider context.

    The withdrawal agreement that was agreed by this House in January last year established the United Kingdom as an independent coastal state. Over the course of the last year we have taken our independent seat at the regional fisheries management organisations, including the North East Atlantic Fisheries Commission and the North Atlantic Fisheries Organisation. In September, we reached a partnership agreement with Norway—our most important partner on fishing interests, and with whom we have responsibility for shared stocks in the North sea.

    We have also developed new bilateral arrangements with our other north-east Atlantic neighbours, including the Faroes, Greenland and Iceland. We have recently commenced annual bilateral fisheries negotiations with the Faroes in relation to access to one another’s waters, and a UK-Norway-EU trilateral is about to begin to agree fishing opportunities on shared stocks in the North sea. There will also be a UK-EU bilateral negotiation on fishing opportunities for the current year in remaining areas. For the first time in almost 50 years, the UK has a seat at the table and represents its own interests in those important negotiations.

    The trade and co-operation agreement establishes an initial multi-annual agreement on quota, sharing and access, covering five and a half years. It ends relative stability as the basis for sharing stocks. Under the agreement, we have given an undertaking to give the EU access to our waters on similar terms as now and, in return, it has agreed to relinquish approximately 25% of the quota that it previously caught in our waters under the EU’s relative stability arrangement. That means that we move from being able to catch somewhat over half the fish in our waters to two thirds of the fish in our waters at the end of the multi-annual agreement. The transfer of quota is front-loaded, with the EU giving up 15% in year 1. On North sea cod, we have an increase from 47% to 57%. On Celtic sea haddock, our share has moved from 10% to 20%. On North sea hake, we secured an uplift from 18% to 54%, and on West of Scotland anglerfish, we have an increase from 31% to 45%. After the five-and-a-half-year agreement, we are able to change access and sharing arrangements further. The EU, for its part, will also be able to apply tariffs on fish exports in proportion to any withdrawal of access.

    Although we recognise that some sectors of the fishing industry had hoped for a larger uplift, and, indeed, the Government argued throughout for a settlement that would have been closer to zonal attachment, the agreement does, nevertheless, mark a significant step in the right direction. To support the UK industry through this initial five and a half years, the Prime Minister announced, just before Christmas, that we will invest £100 million in the UK fishing industry, and I will be bringing forward proposals for this investment in due course.

    Finally, although it is not a consequence of the trade and co-operation agreement, the end of the transition period and the fact that we have left both the customs union and the single market does mean that there is some additional administration accompanying exports to the EU. I am aware that there have been some teething issues as businesses get used to these new processes. Authorities in the EU countries are also adjusting to new procedures. We are working closely with both industry and authorities in the EU to iron out these issues and to ensure that goods flow smoothly to market.

    Mr Carmichael

    For years, this Government have promised our fishing industry a sea of opportunity, but, today, our boats are tied up in harbour, their propellers fouled with red tape manufactured in Whitehall. Boats that are able to go to sea are landing their catches in Denmark—an expensive round trip of at least 72 hours, which takes work away from processors and other shoreside businesses in this country. Our Fisheries Minister describes promises made by Ministers as “dreams” and apparently did not think it was worth reading the agreement as soon as it was made, even though every second counted. How on earth was it allowed to come to this? The EU trade agreement allows a grace period on customs checks for EU businesses. Why was there no grace period allowed for our exporters, and will the Government engage with the EU as a matter of urgency to make good that most fundamental of errors?

    Yesterday, the Prime Minister told the Liaison Committee that compensation is being considered for our fishing industry. Who will be compensated, for what, and by how much? When will our scheme be published and what steps will be taken to help processors, catchers and traders in the meantime? On the loss of quota swaps and other mechanisms, as the Fisheries Minister said yesterday, this could be done Government to Government in-year. Can the Secretary of State explain today how the literally hundreds of producer organisation to producer organisation swaps done every year will be done on a Government-to-Government basis?

    Finally, what will happen at the end of a five-and-a-half year transition period? A transition normally takes us from point A to point B. This transition takes us from point A to point A with a new negotiation. Is zonal attachment still the Government’s policy on quota shares?

    This is a shambles of the Government’s own making; there is no one else to blame now. When will the Minister start listening to the industry? I make him this offer: I can convene a virtual roundtable of all the affected sectors today or tomorrow. Will he meet with me and them to sort this out? The time for complacency has passed.

    George Eustice

    May I begin where the right hon. Gentleman ended and say that we are looking and working very closely with industry on this matter? We are having twice-a-week meetings with all the key stakeholders and all the key sectors to help them understand these issues. Yesterday, we had a meeting with the Dutch officials; earlier this week, we had a meeting with the French; and, on Friday, we had a meeting with the Irish to try to iron out some of these teething problems. They are only teething problems. When people get used to using the paperwork, goods will flow normally. Of course, it would have been open to the EU to offer us a grace period, just as we have had a grace period for its goods coming to us. For reasons known only to the EU and the way that it approaches its particular regulations, that was not something that it was willing to do, so we have had to work with these arrangements from a standing start and, clearly, that causes certain issues.

    The right hon. Gentleman asked what happens after five and a half years. As I said in my opening statement, after that period, we are free to change access arrangements and change sharing arrangements, and we will do so. He asked specifically about swaps. It is important to note that the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs has all of the information on all of the swaps that have taken place in recent years, since each of those producer organisation to producer organisation swaps requires the Government to agree them. It is, therefore, quite possible for us to build those swaps into the annual exchanges. Annual exchanges of fishing opportunities are a normal feature of annual negotiations, and we have also retained the ability to do in-year swaps on behalf of those POs.

    The right hon. Gentleman has raised the issue of what the fisheries Minister said yesterday. I think the record will show that she did not say she did not have time to read the agreement; what she actually said was that her jaw did not drop when she was told what was in the agreement. There may be a reason for that, which is that she knew what was likely to be in the agreement for at least a week, since I had been discussing it with her and we were both in regular contact with our negotiators.

    Finally, I am aware that the Prime Minister mentioned yesterday that the Government remain open to considering compensation for sectors that might have been affected through no fault of their own. We will look closely at this issue, but in the meantime, we are going to work very closely with the industry to ensure that we can iron out these difficulties.