Thank you for contacting me about the Climate and Ecology Bill. Tackling climate change is a top priority for the Government and Ministers are committed to leaving the environment in a better state than that in which they found it.
I am aware that a lot has been achieved with regards to the ambition of achieving net zero emissions. Between 1990 and 2019, the UK economy grew by more than three-quarters and cut its emissions by 44 per cent, decarbonising faster than any other G7 country.
I understand that while Ministers acknowledge the intentions of the Bill, the UK already has a world-leading emissions reduction framework in place. The Climate Change Act 2008 made the UK the first country to introduce a legally binding, long-term emissions reduction target. In October 2021, the Government published the Net Zero Strategy, building on the Ten Point Plan for a Green Industrial Revolution. It is a cross-economy strategy that keeps us on our path to net zero by 2050. To oversee progress, the Climate Change Committee (CCC) provides expert advice to the Government on climate change mitigation and adaptation. The UK’s 2050 net-zero target was considered, in line with advice from the CCC, to be the earliest feasible date for achieving net-zero carbon emissions.
Further, the Environment Act 2021 will drive the long-term action nature needs to recover through legally binding targets, new policy measures, a new environmental enforcement body, the Office for Environmental Protection, and placing environmental principles in domestic law in a consistent and transparent way. The Act includes a target to halt the decline of species by 2030.
Finally, the UK is committed to playing a leading role in developing an ambitious post-2020 global biodiversity framework to be adopted at COP15 of the Convention on Biological Diversity. As part of this framework, the UK will be advocating for ambitious global targets to halt and reverse biodiversity loss by 2030. This includes targets to ensure at least 30 per cent of the global land and of the ocean are protected, ecosystems are restored, species population sizes are recovering, and extinctions are halted by 2050.
Climate change is an issue that affects us all. I believe it is important for the Island to be able to attract green Tidal energy projects. I have spoken to Ministers about this on several occasions. I would also like to see the UK being less reliant on energy sources from overseas.
Thank you again for taking the time to contact me.