Recommendation 12

HM Government Not Addressed

We thank the Committee for its recommendation around monitoring per capita material consumption and placing a target in order to reduced consumption to a more sustainable level. Material resources are at the heart of our economy and we consume them in large quantities. They are essential for meeting our basic human needs, supporting economic activity and creating social value. Global resource use is more than three times higher today than in 1970 and continues to grow. Currently, we discard too many products and materials before their useful life is over. This drives additional resource use and associated greenhouse gas emissions. Although increasing amounts of waste are collected for recycling, much of our waste still ends up being incinerated to generate energy or sent to landfill. Resource use and waste is a complex system and environmental impacts exist at every stage of a material’s lifecycle and it is important to consider how targets can drive long term action across the whole resources and waste system, as changes in one part may impact on others. We are seeking powers in the Environment Bill that will enable us to require that consumers are provided with information about the environmental performance of the electronic and electrical products they are considering buying, for example including recycled content, or reparability. Mandating the provision of this sort of information can help consumers to make more sustainable purchasing decisions and reduce their consumption of resources. Another important aspect of the Environment Bill is the power to set long-term, legally- binding environmental targets. We believe that setting targets will provide a strong mechanism to deliver long-term environmental outcomes. We are exploring the possibility of setting a legally-binding target to increase resource productivity. This will build upon progress towards achieving the long-term vision of the 25 Year Environment Plan and help tackle some of the serious challenges that remain. The Resources and Waste Strategy for England re-affirmed commitments in the Industrial Strategy and 25 Year Environment Plan to double resource productivity by 2050. The target setting process will review the level of this ambition based on the evidence to establish what a legislative target could be.