Recommendation 14

HM Government Acknowledged

In his independent review on the Economics of Biodiversity, Professor Sir Partha Dasgupta found a conservative estimate of the cost of subsidies that damage nature—for example, in agriculture, water abstraction, fossil fuels and fisheries—of around 4 to 6 trillion US dollars per year. That is why the UK is supporting the negotiation of an ambitious international agreement under the Convention on Biological Diversity that looks to reform or eliminate these subsidies worldwide. The UK also co-led the negotiation of the ambitious Leaders’ Pledge for Nature, together with the European Commission and Costa Rica, which commits to ‘eliminating or repurposing subsidies and other incentives that are harmful to nature, biodiversity and climate while increasing significantly the incentives with positive or neutral impact for biodiversity across all productive sectors’. Government is also acting at home. In 2012, Defra commissioned a study of both positive and negative subsidies. The study identified agriculture and fisheries as key priorities for reform, but also identified energy subsidies as potentially significant.2 Our Agriculture Act represents one of the most important environmental reforms for many years, replacing the inefficient EU Common Agricultural Policy with new schemes to improve environmental land management, which will reward farmers for the work they do to safeguard our environment and help us meet crucial goals on mitigating and adapting to climate change and protecting biodiversity. The UK government is opposed to harmful subsidies in fisheries, including their application domestically. The Fisheries Act’s objectives commit the UK Administrations to sustainable fisheries and reducing environmental impact of fisheries. 2 GHK, IEEP (2012) Incentive Measures and Biodiversity – A Rapid Review and Guidance Development The Government’s Subsidy Control Bill contains safeguards in relation to the giving of energy and environmental subsidies, including the option of incentivising the beneficiary to increase the level of environmental protection compared to level that would be achieved in the absence of the subsidy. biodiversity commitments. Domestic biodiversity and legislation (recommendations 15-23)