Source · Select Committees · Environmental Audit Committee
Recommendation 31
31
Not Addressed
Paragraph: 152
The Government is not on track to achieve its objective of improving the environment within...
Conclusion
The Government is not on track to achieve its objective of improving the environment within a generation, and its 25 Year Environment Plan does not provide sufficient direction to change this. Despite repeated calls in the last five years by this Committee, the National Audit Office, the Public Accounts Committee and the Natural Capital Committee, the Government is yet to establish a baseline to measure progress against environmental goals. In the meantime, the UK’s natural capital assets appear to be continuing to deteriorate.
Government response summary AI-generated
The government's response discusses exploring a new GCSE in Natural History and the benefits of outdoor learning, then details commitments related to nature-related financial disclosures, a Green Taxonomy, and the Green Finance Institute. However, it does not directly address the committee's core conclusion regarding the 25 Year Environment Plan's lack of sufficient direction, the failure to establish baselines for measuring environmental progress, or the continuing deterioration of natural capital assets.
Summary of the government's response below — read the verbatim text to verify.
Paragraph Reference:
152
Government Response
Not Addressed
HM Government · verbatim extract
Not Addressed
In formulating this recommendation, the EAC considered other indicators and metrics on biodiversity and wider natural capital beyond the information provided in the Environmental Accounts. We have therefore taken a consistent interpretation in our response. In England, through the Environment Bill, the government is introducing a statutory cycle of monitoring, planning and reporting on Environmental Improvement Plans (EIPs). The cycle comprises annual reports by government to Parliament on progress, regular scrutiny by the Office for Environmental Protection, and five-yearly reviews of the EIP. The OEP will scrutinise the government’s annual report, and may recommend how progress could be improved, to which government must respond. The Outcome Indicator Framework provides one method of reporting on the progress of the EIP. The Framework presents an authoritative way to measure changes to our environment. It draws together a comprehensive suite of measures which collectively describe environmental change as it relates to the ten goals of the 25 YEP (which will become the first EIP). The framework was developed using the concept of natural capital. It focuses on the natural capital outcomes and goals that we have set out to achieve, grouped as: (1) Reducing pressures on natural capital assets (e.g. pollution or plant disease); (2) Improving the state of natural capital assets (including air, water, land and seas); and (3) Increasing the benefits that we get from those assets.
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