Recommendation 3

Since food security depends on some degree of imports, it is vital that environmental harms are not exported abroad. That is why it is so important to get the UK’s trade deals right on food and the environment. We welcome the Minister’s desire to demonstrate global leadership on food production and the environment. The Government must show its leadership by upholding standards for the environmental impacts of food production in its trading relationships with other countries. It should publish a statement on climate and biodiversity standards for food production, equivalent to its promised statement on animal health. Its commitment to incorporate climate scenario analysis into trade models by 2025 should be matched by biodiversity scenario analysis.