Recommendations & Conclusions
16 items
5
Recommendation
Fourth Report - The UK's contribution t…
Deferred
To ensure that the UK can measure and track progress, we recommend that the Government should continue to fund the development of a monitoring, measurement and reporting framework for UK consumption.
Government response AI summary
The government did not commit to funding the development of a monitoring, measurement, and reporting framework for UK consumption, instead stating it is not currently considering widening the scope of Government Buying Standards (GBS) and detailing an ongoing consultation to update the GBS for food …
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6
Recommendation
Fourth Report - The UK's contribution t…
Deferred
We recommend that the Government use its influence in all relevant forums to promote international data disclosure (and domestic disclosure of UK customs and industrial data) so as to improve the monitoring of forest risks in the UK and globally.
Government response AI summary
The government's response focuses on existing and reviewed Government Buying Standards for food and catering, including current requirements for palm oil and coffee, and future consideration of forest-risk commodities within these procurement standards, rather than addressing the recommendation to promote broader international and domestic data …
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7
Conclusion
Fourth Report - The UK's contribution t…
Deferred
Illegal mining is increasingly recognised as a driver of deforestation in some regions. The Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office has indicated that its programmes addressing deforestation are to be expanded to cover a wider range of forest risk commodities, beyond timber, and will expressly include mining. We welcome this explicit …
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Illegal mining is increasingly recognised as a driver of deforestation in some regions. The Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office has indicated that its programmes addressing deforestation are to be expanded to cover a wider range of forest risk commodities, beyond timber, and will expressly include mining. We welcome this explicit recognition of a broader range of drivers of global deforestation. (Paragraph 27) The UK’s contribution to tackling global deforestation 47
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Government response AI summary
The government's response focuses solely on existing United Kingdom Timber Regulations (UKTR) and FLEGT Regulations, and plans to review the Timber Regulations in 2024, completely omitting any mention of mining as a driver of deforestation, which was the focus of the committee's conclusion.
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8
Recommendation
Fourth Report - The UK's contribution t…
Deferred
We recommend that UK consumption monitoring be developed to incorporate the monitoring of mined products, so as to support the Government’s programmes addressing the impact of mining-related deforestation.
Government response AI summary
The government response outlines general processes for new regulations, including grace periods, reporting requirements, and exemptions for organisations, but does not specifically address the recommendation to develop UK consumption monitoring for mined products.
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10
Recommendation
Fourth Report - The UK's contribution t…
Deferred
We recommend that each Government Buying Standard be made mandatory for all large public sector bodies, including the NHS, the Armed Forces and HM Prison Service, as it currently is for UK Government departments and their partner organisations. Annual reporting on compliance against public procurement policies should also be mandatory …
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We recommend that each Government Buying Standard be made mandatory for all large public sector bodies, including the NHS, the Armed Forces and HM Prison Service, as it currently is for UK Government departments and their partner organisations. Annual reporting on compliance against public procurement policies should also be mandatory for these large public bodies: the annual reporting should in each case indicate the proportion of overall goods procured which have been sourced from UK producers.
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Government response AI summary
The government deflects the recommendation regarding making Government Buying Standards mandatory and requiring annual compliance reporting for public sector bodies, instead detailing its existing and developing supply-side interventions and international funding programmes aimed at sustainable forest risk commodity supply chains.
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11
Conclusion
Fourth Report - The UK's contribution t…
Deferred
Sustainable government procurement presents a pathway to increasing the sustainability of supply chains. Government performance against existing sustainable procurement policies has been unimpressive to date. The 2020–21 Greening Government Commitments report indicated that ten departments had submitted information about their performance against the procurement commitment in that year. Given that …
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Sustainable government procurement presents a pathway to increasing the sustainability of supply chains. Government performance against existing sustainable procurement policies has been unimpressive to date. The 2020–21 Greening Government Commitments report indicated that ten departments had submitted information about their performance against the procurement commitment in that year. Given that 2020–21 was a year in which the pandemic had a significant impact, the Cabinet Office ruled that the data submitted “should not be considered as a representative measure of overall government performance against this commitment” and declined to publish the data submitted. We expect Ministers to require full reporting by their departments against the procurement commitment, and all other Greening Government Commitments, for 2021–22: in the interests of transparency and the encouragement of high levels of compliance, the data should be published in full in the 2021–22 annual report.
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Government response AI summary
The government response entirely diverts from the recommendation to require full and published reporting against Greening Government Commitments, instead detailing consultation feedback on the number of forest risk commodities for due diligence legislation and deforestation footprint statistics.
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12
Conclusion
Fourth Report - The UK's contribution t…
Deferred
There is an opportunity to learn from the experience of timber and palm oil procurement, and to strengthen and extend these approaches.
Government response AI summary
The government response focuses on recognising and supporting the land rights of Indigenous Peoples and Local Communities (IPLCs) through due diligence legislation and FCDO programmes, rather than addressing the recommendation to learn from and extend approaches used in timber and palm oil procurement.
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16
Conclusion
Fourth Report - The UK's contribution t…
Deferred
The Government’s consultation on proposals for Schedule 17 implementation ended in March 2022, but secondary legislation has not yet been brought forward and the Government has not yet committed to a date by which it can be expected. While we welcome the Secretary of State’s recent clarification of the initial …
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The Government’s consultation on proposals for Schedule 17 implementation ended in March 2022, but secondary legislation has not yet been brought forward and the Government has not yet committed to a date by which it can be expected. While we welcome the Secretary of State’s recent clarification of the initial commodities which are to be within scope, and the turnover threshold to which the Schedule 17 regime is to apply, many details of the proposed scheme remain unclear. We are concerned that this leaves businesses with uncertainty and impairs their ability to prepare properly to meet the requirements of the regime. Under the Glasgow Leaders’ Declaration on Forests and Land Use, the UK has committed to ending deforestation and forest degradation by 2030, and at COP15 global agreements were made to halt and reverse biodiversity loss by the same deadline. With less than seven years remaining until 2030, the UK Government should avoid all further delay to ensure that the UK plays its part in meeting these vital goals.
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Government response AI summary
The government detailed its commitment to invest at least £1.5 billion in UK International Climate Finance for forest protection and restoration by March 2026, and announced £576 million in new forests programming, but did not address the delay in bringing forward secondary legislation for Schedule …
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17
Recommendation
Fourth Report - The UK's contribution t…
Deferred
We recommend that the Government publish its proposed suite of regulations as a matter of urgency. Where regulations are to be subject to the affirmative procedure, Ministers must publish a clear timetable for drafts to be laid, approved by both Houses and brought into force, to allow those businesses likely …
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We recommend that the Government publish its proposed suite of regulations as a matter of urgency. Where regulations are to be subject to the affirmative procedure, Ministers must publish a clear timetable for drafts to be laid, approved by both Houses and brought into force, to allow those businesses likely to be within the scope of the regulations sufficient time to prepare.
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Government response AI summary
The government agreed with the committee regarding the IPLC Forest Tenure Pledge and detailed existing and new Official Development Assistance (ODA) programs to strengthen IPLC forest tenure rights and capacity, but did not commit to publishing regulations or a timetable for Schedule 17.
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18
Conclusion
Fourth Report - The UK's contribution t…
Deferred
The due diligence system established under Schedule 17 will prohibit the use of illegally produced commodities with reference to compliance with local laws. This means that products of legal deforestation will not be within the scope of the system, unlike comparable EU legislation. This is regrettable. Only 31% of deforestation …
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The due diligence system established under Schedule 17 will prohibit the use of illegally produced commodities with reference to compliance with local laws. This means that products of legal deforestation will not be within the scope of the system, unlike comparable EU legislation. This is regrettable. Only 31% of deforestation globally is illegal; the wide variation in the strength of local laws on deforestation is a weakness of this approach, and there is the possibility of deregulation in response to the UK’s due diligence requirements.
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Government response AI summary
The government stated the FCDO is developing a business case for a follow-on 10-year forest governance programme that will have a broader remit, looking beyond timber to illegal deforestation, but did not commit to amending Schedule 17 to include legal deforestation.
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19
Recommendation
Fourth Report - The UK's contribution t…
Deferred
We recommend that, in order to increase the sustainable use of forest-risk commodities, the Government should bring forward amendments to paragraph 2 of Schedule 17 to the Environment Act so as to prohibit UK businesses from trading or using commodities linked to deforestation activity as defined by the UN Food …
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We recommend that, in order to increase the sustainable use of forest-risk commodities, the Government should bring forward amendments to paragraph 2 of Schedule 17 to the Environment Act so as to prohibit UK businesses from trading or using commodities linked to deforestation activity as defined by the UN Food and Agriculture Organization, whether or not the activity is permitted by local legislation.
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Government response AI summary
The government stated the FLEGT Post Implementation Review (PIR) will be published shortly and shared, with further analysis of lessons learned to be conducted, but did not commit to amending Schedule 17 to prohibit commodities linked to deforestation regardless of local legality.
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21
Conclusion
Fourth Report - The UK's contribution t…
Deferred
A phased introduction of forest risk commodities misses the opportunity to set early and clear expectations that deforestation is not welcome in any UK supply chains. While the Government’s announcement that four major commodities will be brought within initial scope of the Schedule 17 regime is welcome, the failure to …
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A phased introduction of forest risk commodities misses the opportunity to set early and clear expectations that deforestation is not welcome in any UK supply chains. While the Government’s announcement that four major commodities will be brought within initial scope of the Schedule 17 regime is welcome, the failure to include commodities such as maize, rubber and coffee within this scope does not demonstrate the level of urgency required to halt and reverse forest loss and land degradation by 2030. (Paragraph 81) The UK’s contribution to tackling global deforestation 49
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Government response AI summary
The government affirmed its commitment to upholding high environmental standards in trade agreements, its ambition to protect the environment, and its involvement in international initiatives like the Glasgow Leaders’ Declaration and the FACT Dialogue, but did not address the recommendation to include more forest-risk commodities …
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22
Recommendation
Fourth Report - The UK's contribution t…
Deferred
We recommend that the Government’s proposals for due diligence legislation should include from the outset all forest risk commodities associated with a material UK deforestation footprint (soy, palm oil, cocoa, maize, beef and leather, rubber and coffee) rather than taking the phased approach which Ministers appear to favour. In the …
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We recommend that the Government’s proposals for due diligence legislation should include from the outset all forest risk commodities associated with a material UK deforestation footprint (soy, palm oil, cocoa, maize, beef and leather, rubber and coffee) rather than taking the phased approach which Ministers appear to favour. In the response to this report we expect the Government to set out the evidential basis for the claim that the commodities within initial scope are estimated to account for 64% of the UK’s tropical deforestation footprint, and to indicate the proportion of the UK’s global deforestation footprint estimated to be covered by these commodities.
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Government response AI summary
The government stated that Impact Assessments for new Free Trade Agreements have included environmental impact estimates and that research has been undertaken on assessing net gain in trade, but did not address the recommendation to include all forest-risk commodities in due diligence legislation from the …
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26
Recommendation
Fourth Report - The UK's contribution t…
Deferred
We recommend that the statutory evaluation of the Schedule 17 due diligence system address expressly whether the due diligence system has effectively supported the human rights of indigenous peoples to land, territories and resources.
Government response AI summary
The government states that statutory reviews of Schedule 17 will primarily focus on reducing deforestation but acknowledges the importance of indigenous peoples' role. It is currently exploring how to address the recommendation regarding human rights within the independent evaluation of the scheme.
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27
Conclusion
Fourth Report - The UK's contribution t…
Deferred
The UK financial sector is a direct and indirect contributor to financing deforestation. Financial institutions cannot meet their deforestation policies or their net zero commitments without also addressing their exposure to deforestation through the companies they finance.
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The UK financial sector is a direct and indirect contributor to financing deforestation. Financial institutions cannot meet their deforestation policies or their net zero commitments without also addressing their exposure to deforestation through the companies they finance.
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Government response AI summary
The government states that guidance on applying the Schedule 17 regime to the financial sector will be published with secondary legislation, and HM Treasury will conduct a review to assess the adequacy of current regulations in eliminating illegal deforestation financing.
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29
Recommendation
Fourth Report - The UK's contribution t…
Deferred
We recommend that the Government bring forward legislation to bring businesses in the UK financial sector within the scope of the Schedule 17 regime.
Government response AI summary
The government will publish guidance on Schedule 17's application to the financial sector when secondary legislation is laid, and HM Treasury will conduct a review to assess the adequacy of current regulation and consider future changes to eliminate illegal deforestation financing.
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