Select committee: Environmental Audit Committee
Conclusion 4
Third Report - Growing back better: putting nature and net zero at the heart of the economic recovery
Published 17 Feb 2021
Paragraph 48
Environmental Audit Committee Greening the post-Covid recovery All items in this report Report on parliament.uk ↗ Inquiry on parliament.uk ↗
Conclusion (the committee's words)
The speed at which we have developed the vaccine under pressure shows how rapidly scientific progress can be made when efforts are concentrated and urgent. We now need to apply that same level of urgency to developing and deploying the solutions to the climate and extinction crisis. The UK’s post-crisis economic recovery stimulus must be treated as an opportunity to accelerate investment on nature recovery, climate adaptation and cutting emissions to net zero. Many of the solutions necessary to slow the pace of climate change and biodiversity loss will also spur innovation, create jobs and make the economy and society more resilient to any future crisis.
From: Environmental Audit Committee, Third Report - Growing back better: putting nature and net zero at the heart of the economic recovery (HC 347), paragraph 48, 17 February 2021
Government response
The government responded to the whole report on 22 June 2021 (deadline 17 April 2021).
Summary written by Accountability Index from the government's response. It is not the government's own words.The government welcomes the Committee's report and says many recommendations are "in line with existing policies", while setting out where it is already acting and where it takes a different or conditional position.
- On legally binding environmental targets, the government says the Environment Bill places a duty to set at least one target in each of four priority areas, and is "working towards a public consultation" with proposed targets for publication in early 2022.
- On climate disclosures, BEIS "intends to lay the SI by the end of this year", with regulations coming into force on 6 April 2022.
- On reducing VAT for repairs and green home upgrades, the government sets out cost and fiscal considerations, says "Going further would come at a cost to the Exchequer", and points to existing reduced rates and schemes.
- On carbon border adjustments, it says such mechanisms are one possible approach but "it is not yet clear" how one could comply with trade obligations and how effective it would be.