To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment his Department has made of the potential merits of developing a nature-positive and net-zero aligned decarbonisation strategy for agriculture and land use as recommended by WWF and the Climate Change Committee.
Answered on
16 February 2022
Defra is fully committed to supporting the cross Government and cross societal work to reach net zero emissions by 2050. We set out our work in this area as part of the Government’s Net Zero Strategy, and have regular conversations with BEIS at all levels, including between Secretaries of State, on net zero. Our UK Food Security report also highlighted the importance of tackling climate change to support a resilient food supply and the future resilience of farming businesses.
Our future farming environmental land management schemes will be crucial to delivering our goals to decarbonise agriculture and land use in England. In January the department published a target to decarbonise agricultural emissions by a total of up to 6 million tonnes CO2 equivalent per annum in Carbon Budget 6 (2033-37). We will pursue further opportunities to support farmers and land managers' contribution to delivering our Carbon Budgets, including through investment in innovation.
The Environment Act introduced statutory Environmental Improvement Plans (EIP) and Local Nature Recovery Strategies with strong land use elements. Together with our planning system they will help to maximise the benefits of any land use change. As part of our next EIP, the review of the 25 Year Environment Plan due in 2023, we will be setting out our policy pathways to reach our legally binding targets under the Environment Act, including to halt the decline in nature by 2030.