Tag: Department for Environment Food and Rural Affairs

• £4 million dedicated to phase out the use of chemicals found in refrigeration and cold supply chains
• Funding will support climate-friendly technologies in developing countries that help reduce food and vaccine loss, as well as increase farming productivity
• Announcement made as a delegation of scientists visit London for talks and attend No10 reception

Developing countries will receive £4 million to drive down the emissions of harmful hydrofluorocarbons generated by outdated air conditioning units, cooling refrigeration and cold supply chains, the government has announced today (20th April).

Hydrofluorocarbons are industrial chemicals primarily used for cooling and refrigeration. They are amongst the fastest-growing source of greenhouse gas emissions in the world, and when emitted have a global warming potential thousands of times that of carbon dioxide.

The funding will help deliver an African Centre of Excellence for Sustainable Cooling and Cold Chain – based in Kigali, Rwanda – which delivers training to farmers, healthcare workers and technicians to uptake more climate friendly and energy-efficient cooling.

As well as reducing emissions, developing nations will be better placed to store food and medicines more efficiently with the use of more efficient technologies. These will also help to improve farming productivity and reduce poverty, as for many crops up to 40% of the harvested produce is lost before being sold.

The Environment Secretary has made the announcement as she is set to welcome a delegation of climate scientists from the UN Montreal Protocol’s Assessment Panels to a reception in No.10 Downing Street later today.

The scientists will discuss the next steps of the Montreal Protocol, designed to protect the earth’s ozone layer by phasing out the production and consumption of harmful ozone-depleting substances and then extended to cover hydrofluorocarbons through the Kigali Amendment.

The UK is a global leader in the fight against climate change, integral to the agreement of the Protocol and leading the world in the ambition to keep global warming under 1.5 °C through our presidency of COP26 and leadership at COP15 placed nature at the heart of tackling the twin challenges of climate change and biodiversity loss.

The Environment Secretary Thérèse Coffey said:

The UN Montreal Protocol has played a vital part in protecting our ozone layer from harmful depleting substances and, as a global leader in the fight against climate change, I am delighted to be able to welcome the scientists leading the charge on this to Downing Street.

This funding will help developing countries to play their part in tackling climate change and communities across the world with storing food and medicines more efficiently – as well as support farmers to increase their productivity.

Alongside improvements to cooling equipment efficiency, UK leadership for early action on hydrofluorocarbons under the Montreal Protocol could avoid up to a degree of warming by the end of the century. The UK continues to cut consumption of hydrofluorocarbons at a faster pace than required under the Kigali Amendment to the UN Montreal Protocol – since 2015, levels have been reduced by 55% and by 2030 this will have phased down by 79% under existing legislation.

On top of today’s announcement, a further £1.2 million is being allocated towards the development of a roadmap and virtual modelling tools to help developing countries pilot techniques before they are implemented – enabling them to deploy the most efficient and cost-effective approach to more sustainable cooling.

The UK is a global leader in supporting efforts to halt the decline in nature and restore the natural world, with UK leadership helping to deliver an ambitious new global deal for nature to protect 30% of our land and ocean by 2030 at the UN Nature Summit COP15 in December.

Through UK programmes such as the Darwin Initiative, the Illegal Wildlife Trade Challenge Fund, and the Biodiverse Landscapes Fund the UK is supporting developing countries around the world to restore habitats, tackle the trade in illegal wildlife and deal with the drivers of habitat loss that put the environment at risk.

Professor Toby Peters, Professor in Cold Economy at University of Birmingham and Heriot-Watt University, and leading the collaboration of UK Universities supporting the work in Africa and India, said:

Sustainable and equitable cooling and cold-chain is now more than ever critical infrastructure in a warming world. This programme for the first time delivers in an integrated approach that includes on the ground training and support for subsistence farmers and their communities, financeable business models and the network of skilled engineers needed to support equipment installation and maintenance. This work is underpinned by the evidence strategies required to increase investment into the development of sustainable cold-chain and community cooling.

The Climate and Environment Ministers of the G7 have today (Sunday 16 April) agreed a joint statement to tackle global nature loss.

The meeting, held in Sapporo in Japan, was hosted by Mr Yasutoshi Nishimura, Minister of Economy, Trade and Industry, and Mr Akihiro Nisimura, Minister of the Environment.

Environment Secretary Thérèse Coffey and the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, Grant Shapps, attended in person. Guest countries included India, Indonesia and the UAE.

The G7 members committed to the swift and effective implementation of the Global Biodiversity Framework (GBF) – which the UK played a key role in agreeing in Montreal last year – demonstrating their collective leadership in halting and reversing biodiversity loss by 2030. They also highlighted the need to mobilise funding from all sources to support developing countries to protect nature.

The Environment Secretary called on her fellow ministers to deliver on their existing commitments to increase finance for nature to close the nature finance gap and scrap or repurpose environmentally harmful subsidies.

G7 ministers committed to dedicate a significant amount of international climate finance to nature-based solutions, delivering benefits for climate, people and nature. Ministers called on Multilateral Development Banks (MBDs) and International Financial Institutions (IFIs) to do the same, and for businesses to progressively reduce negative, and increase positive, impacts on biodiversity.

The commitments today showcase a step forward for nature and put an end to species extinction through increasing the mobilisation of resources, including private finance to fund the global effort to halt nature loss.

Speaking after the meeting, Environment Secretary Thérèse Coffey said:

The G7 have committed to the swift and effective implementation of the landmark Global Biodiversity Framework – which aims to halt and reverse biodiversity loss by 2030.

Following this historic agreement reached at COP15 last year, I am delighted to have met my G7 counterparts today to discuss ways we can build on this as a global community and tackle the challenges we all face with meaningful and urgent action.

We have seen tremendous progress this weekend and it has been great to see our countries working together to raise our ambition and lead by example, each playing our part.

The group also committed to redouble efforts to increase action to end plastic pollution by 2040, halt and reverse forest loss by 2030, protect marine biodiversity in the high sea, and reduce pollution.

The Communique is published online on the Japanese Ministry of the Environment website.

A consultation on delivering cleaner air in towns, cities and rural areas across England has been launched today (11 April).

The Government is seeking views on a revised Air Quality Strategy which outlines how councils in England should use their existing powers and responsibilities more effectively to deliver improvements to air quality.

The draft strategy includes:

• Outlining the actions councils can undertake to improve air quality
• Setting out actions for councils to reduce emissions of fine particulate matter, the pollutant most damaging to health
• Providing a framework to enable local authorities to make the best use of their powers and deliver for their communities

Following consultation, a final strategy will be published, providing a framework to support local action to improve air quality, in consultation with local communities. This will drive forward progress towards achieving the government’s legally-binding targets for all key air pollutants, including those recently set under the Environment Act for fine particulate matter (PM2.5).

The final strategy will complement the range of support government makes available to local authorities, including £883 million allocated under the Nitrogen Dioxide Programme, and funding awarded annually under Defra’s local Air Quality Grant scheme to develop and implement measures that benefit schools, businesses and communities, and reduce the impact of polluted air on people’s health.

Environment Minister Rebecca Pow said:

By taking action in communities across the country, local authorities have a pivotal role to play in improving air quality, and they should listen to local residents and local businesses to find solutions that work best for their local area.

Building on the great strides made in tackling air pollution at a national level since 2010, this strategy will help councils to go further and faster to improve air quality for the benefit of their residents.

I encourage all local authorities to respond so together, we can deliver cleaner air – now and for the future.

The government is taking decisive action to improve air quality. Our five year strategy to protect and restore the environment, which we published in January, sets out interim targets to reduce concentrations of, and public exposure to, PM2.5 by the end of January 2028, alongside a range of policies to work towards these targets. This builds on the progress made since 2010, where emissions of fine particulate matter [PM2.5] have fallen by 18%, and emissions of nitrogen oxides are at their lowest level since records began.

The Plan also committed to helping councils to improve air quality more quickly by assessing their performance and use of existing powers, while supporting them with clear guidance, funding and tools. The consultation launched today (link) represents a significant step forward in the delivery of these commitments.

The strategy builds on existing net zero programmes implemented by the government, including our National Air Pollution Control Programme (NAPCP), which sets out how the UK can meet the legally binding 2020 and 2030 emission reduction commitments, and the 2019 Clean Air Strategy, which sets out the comprehensive actions required across all parts of government and society to improve air quality.

You can respond to the consultation by clicking here.

Mandatory housing measures for poultry and captive birds, which were introduced across England and Wales to help stop the spread of bird flu, will be lifted from 00:01 on Tuesday 18 April 2023, the Chief Veterinary Officer has confirmed today following a latest assessment of the risk level.

Following ongoing monitoring using the latest scientific evidence and a robust risk assessment, bird flu risk levels have been reduced meaning poultry and other captive birds will no longer need to be housed and can be kept outside, unless they are in a Protection Zone. The decision means that from 18 April, eggs laid by hens with access to outside range areas can return to being marketed as ‘Free-Range’ eggs.

The scale of avian influenza outbreaks across the UK and Europe have been unprecedented with over 330 cases confirmed across the country since late October 2021. While the risk of bird flu has been reduced to ‘medium’ for premises with poor biosecurity, the enhanced biosecurity requirements that were brought in as part of the Avian Influenza Prevention Zone (AIPZ) will remain in force as infection may still be circulating in the environment for several more weeks. The risk of bird flu remains assessed as low where good biosecurity is applied.

Those who intend to allow their birds outside are advised to use the upcoming days to prepare their outside areas for the release of their birds. This will include cleansing and disinfection of hard surfaces, fencing off ponds or standing water and reintroduction of wild bird deterrents.

Dr Christine Middlemiss, the UK’s Chief Veterinary Officer, said:

“Whilst the lifting of the mandatory housing measures will be welcome news to bird keepers, scrupulous biosecurity remains the most critical form of defence to help keep your birds safe.

“It is thanks to the hard work of all bird keepers and vets who have played their part in keeping flocks safe this winter that we are in a position to take this action. However, the unprecedented nature of this outbreak has proven it’s more important than ever for bird keepers to remain vigilant for signs of disease and maintain stringent standards of biosecurity.”

Scrupulous biosecurity is the most effective method of disease control available and all bird keepers should apply enhanced measures at all times to prevent the risk of future outbreaks.

Poultry and captive bird keepers must:

• cleanse and disinfect clothing, footwear, equipment and vehicles before and after contact with poultry and captive birds – if practical, use disposable protective clothing
• reduce the movement of people, vehicles or equipment to and from areas where poultry and captive birds are kept, to minimise contamination from manure, slurry and other products, and use effective vermin control
• thoroughly cleanse and disinfect housing on a continuous basis
• keep fresh disinfectant at the right concentration at all farm and bird housing entry and exit points
• minimise direct and indirect contact between poultry and captive birds and wild birds, including making sure all feed and water is not accessible to wild birds
• be vigilant for any signs of disease in their birds and any wild birds, and seek prompt advice from their vet if they have any concerns.

We would encourage all keepers to register their flocks with us. For poultry this is a legal requirement if you have 50 birds or more (poultry includes chickens, ducks, turkeys, geese, pigeon (bred for meat), partridge, quail, guinea fowl and pheasants). Registering with us means that we will be able to contact you with information or action required should an outbreak happen near you. We recently announced a consultation on proposals to require all poultry keepers to officially register their birds (consultation closes at 23:45 on 31 May 2023).

The UKHSA advise that the available evidence suggests viruses currently circulating in birds in the UK do not spread easily to people and food standards bodies advise that avian influenzas pose a very low food safety risk for UK consumers. There is no impact on the consumption of properly cooked poultry products, including eggs.

Bird keepers should report suspicion of disease in England to the Defra Rural Services Helpline on 03000 200 301, in Wales contact 0300 303 8268. In Scotland, contact your local Field Services Office. In Northern Ireland contact DAERA on 0300 200 7840 or your local DAERA Direct Regional Office. Keepers should familiarise themselves with our avian flu advice.

Members of the public are reminded not to touch dead wild birds and are encouraged to report findings of dead wild birds using the new online reporting system or by calling the Defra helpline (03459 33 55 77).

Four swimming spots in England are being designated as bathing waters ahead of the warmer months and will soon benefit from regular water quality monitoring, Water Minister Rebecca Pow has today (April 10) announced.

Following a two-week public consultation, Sykes Lane Bathing Beach and Whitwell Creek at Rutland Water, Firestone Bay in Plymouth, and a section of the River Deben at Waldringfield, Suffolk, will all be officially designated ahead of the 2023 bathing water season. The four new sites will take the total number of bathing waters across the country to 424, the highest number ever.

The Environment Agency regularly monitors water quality at designated bathing water sites and assesses whether action is needed to cut pollution levels, working with local communities, farmers and water companies to improve water quality at these locations.

Over the past decade, we have made good progress in improving bathing water quality at existing sites, thanks to robust regulation and strong investment. Since 2010, the proportion of bathing waters assessed as ‘good’ or ‘excellent’ has increased from 76% to 93%. Meanwhile, 72% are considered ‘excellent’ – up from just 51% in 2010. This is the highest level ever, despite the classification standards for bathing waters having been made more stringent in 2015.

Today’s announcement follows on from the Plan for Water, launched by the government last week, which sets out the action being taken by government to clean up our waters and ensure a plentiful supply into the future.

It also follows the government’s Environmental Improvement Plan published earlier this year, which includes a target for everyone to live within a 15-minute walk from nature, such as bathing waters.

Water Minister Rebecca Pow said:

These popular swimming spots will now undergo regular monitoring, starting this May, so bathers have up-to-date information on the quality of the water.

The regular monitoring also means that action can be taken if minimum standards aren’t being met.

We now have more bathing waters than ever, and we’ve worked hard in recent years to boost their status – with an incredible 93% now classed as good or excellent – and our new Plan for Water will help us go further and faster on our targets.

The Environment Agency will regularly take samples at the newly designated sites during the bathing season – which runs between 15 May and 30 September.

When selecting new sites, Defra considers how many people bathe there, if the site has suitable infrastructure and facilities, such as toilets, and where investment in water quality improvements following designation would have the most impact. All applications are assessed against these factors and only those that meet these factors are taken forward to public consultation.

This government has taken significant action in recent years to protect and improve the quality of water at designated bathing water sites at our rivers, lakes and coastal waters. This includes:

• Setting strict new targets on water companies – designed to frontload action in important areas such as bathing waters – as part of our Storm Overflows Discharge Reduction Plan. This requires water companies to deliver the largest infrastructure programme in water company history – £56 billion capital investment over 25 years
• Increasing monitoring of discharges from approximately 5% in 2016, to nearly 90% in 2021. This will reach 100% cover by end of this year. Through the Environment Act, water companies are being required to make near real-time data on storm overflow discharges publicly available
• Working with the farming community and regulators to reduce nutrient pollution from agriculture through our future farming reforms. The government has also increased the Environment Agency’s capacity to conduct farm inspections, with the target of conducting 4,000 a year, and doubled the funding for Catchment Sensitive Farming
• Setting record levels of fines for water companies who break the law. Since 2015 the Environment Agency has secured fines of over £144m. The government is making it easier and quicker for regulators to enforce penalties and hold companies to account. Fines and penalties handed out to water companies will also be invested in schemes that benefit the environment.

Grants totalling £775,000 will help councils roll out a range of projects to crack down on fly-tipping, Environment Minister Rebecca Pow announced today (Saturday 8 April).

Twenty-one local authorities will benefit from the grants, with schemes such as roadside CCTV and social media campaigns in Plymouth and targeted surveillance at hotspot areas in Pendle. Other projects will include:

• CCTV – portable CCTV cameras to patrol and capture footage across Northumberland
• Barriers – anti-climb fencing to protect neighbourhood areas in Hyndburn, including community orchards and wildflower meadows
• Better waste infrastructure – larger recycling bins in better locations in Mansfield to make sure the public have access to correct disposal approach

Councils will have six months to roll out their initiatives, before sharing how this worked in practice and helping other councils to develop similar schemes.

The new grants announced today will build on the successes of the first round of projects, which provided £450,000 to 11 councils last year.

The projects funded in the first round included building new community gardens in fly-tipping hotspots in Thanet and CCTV with automatic number-plate recognition in Buckinghamshire.

In Durham, the County Council introduced educational bin stickers, permanent signage and installed CCTV onto existing lighting columns. Thanks to these efforts, fly-tipping was cut by over 60 per cent.

Following the success of these initiatives, Defra has almost doubled the amount of funding available for councils this year – £775,000 – for projects for the second round.

Environment Minister Rebecca Pow said:

Fly-tipping is a cynical crime which blights communities and the environment.

Our first round of grants over the last year were a big success – which is why we are expanding this scheme to help more local authorities around the country take the fight to waste criminals.

Belinda Snow, Neighbourhood Warden Manager for Durham County Council, said:

We are grateful that the funding became available from Defra, and the council was awarded £50,000 to tackle fly-tipping at known hotspots with the use of CCTV, signage and educational bin stickers.

The funding enabled us to invest in our communities, resulting in cleaner streets and an overall positive response from residents. We monitored the intervention areas for three months after installation of CCTV and signage in comparison to the data three months before and we could see a 68.4% total reduction in fly tipping incidents.

The use of CCTV has also increased our ability to carry out enforcement action. We have had one successful prosecution at one hotspot location and we have issued a fixed penalty notice at another.

This second grant scheme complements wider action we are taking to tackle fly-tipping and waste crime. We have consulted on reforming the waste carrier, broker, dealer regime, introducing mandatory digital waste tracking and preventing councils from charging for the disposal of DIY waste at local tips.

We are also developing a fly-tipping toolkit with National Fly-Tipping Prevention Group to help spread best practice among local authorities on tackling the issue.

The Prime Minister pledged earlier this year to clamp down on perpetrators of anti-social behaviour. We are committed to delivering on this pledge, recently announcing more severe punishments for those who graffiti, litter or fly-tip, with fines of up to £500 and £1,000 as part of the Anti-Social Behaviour Action Plan. The Plan will also introduce the publication of council league tables for fly-tipping, as well as extra ‘hotspot’ patrols and a trial ‘Immediate Justice’ scheme to deliver swift and visible punishments.

A full list of recipients is available below.

• Spelthorne Borough Council
• Northumberland County Council
• Cambridge City Council
• Hyndburn Borough Council
• Derby City Council
• Stockton on Tees Borough Council
• Waltham Forest
• Plymouth City Council
• Birmingham City Council
• Wyre Borough Council
• Herefordshire County Council
• Manchester City Council
• Calderdale Borough Council
• Bristol City Council
• Tamworth Borough Council
• Leeds City Council
• Mansfield District Council
• Staffordshire Moorlands District Council
• Rotherham Borough Council
• Pendle Borough Council
• Doncaster Borough Council

The government has today (Thursday 6th April) provided a boost to the UK’s pig sector by committing to regulate pig contracts to support the supply chain and provide greater certainty across the whole sector.

These new regulations will help to bring stability and security to the pig supply chain, strengthening the sector’s ability to deal with the challenges currently being faced around the world, such as rising costs and labour shortages caused by global pressures.

The move follows a public consultation last year, which received nearly 400 responses from producers, processors and others in the supply chain. It revealed popular sentiment in the sector that legally required written contracts would remove uncertainty and ambiguity, with the majority of respondents supporting the governments approach to implement this through legislation.

Farming Minister Mark Spencer said:

“The pig sector has faced unprecedented challenges over the last year, with rising costs and global labour shortages putting real pressure on producers and processors.

“We are committed to working with the sector, and the regulations set to be introduced will ensure fairness and transparency across the supply chain – from pig to pork to plate – to help the sector to thrive in the future.”

The regulations will be developed using the regulation-making power in section 29 of the Agriculture Act 2020, with further engagement with industry to ensure that they meet the needs of the sector and properly address the challenges the sector faces.

As well as regulation on written contracts, the government will develop regulations to collect and share more supply chain data, particularly in relation to wholesale price transparency and national slaughter numbers. Increasing the availability of this sort of data within the supply chain will help market reporting services be more reflective of the entire UK market, and will therefore help to further reduce ambiguity for all within the supply chain.

The consultation has also revealed pig producers’ concerns about market consolidation in the processing sector, and the impact this has had on producers. In response to this, the government will be sharing the consultation’s findings relating to the alleged negative consequences of market consolidation with the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA).