Source · Select Committees · Environmental Audit Committee
Recommendation 1
1
Accepted
Paragraph: 21
UK agricultural product consumption significantly drives global deforestation with alarming intensity.
Conclusion
Significant action is required to reduce the impact on deforestation of the UK’s consumption of agricultural products. While the UK is the 15th largest contributor to tropical deforestation in global terms, the intensity of UK consumption (measured in footprint per tonne of product consumed) is higher than that of China. This figure ought to alarm Ministers.
Government Response Summary
The government states it has already taken significant action through initiatives like the Global Resource Initiative Taskforce and incorporated recommendations into the Environment Act 2021. It also highlights ongoing work by the Joint Nature Conservation Committee to monitor the global environmental impact of UK consumption, with this evidence already informing policymaking.
Paragraph Reference:
21
Government Response
Accepted
HM Government
Accepted
The Global Resource Initiative Taskforce was set up in 2018 as a time-bound initiative to advise the UK Government on how to reduce UK economic contribution to global deforestation through UK supply chains. The Government worked closely with the Taskforce to understand and implement many of its recommendations, and published a formal cross-government response in 2020, much of which has been incorporated into the Environment Act 2021 and wider Government policy and programming. The Outcome Indicator Framework published by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) in 2019 included a commitment to develop an indicator describing the overseas environmental impacts of UK consumption. The government has since developed an approach to monitoring the global environmental impact of the UK’s consumption, including its deforestation footprint. This work was undertaken by the Joint Nature Conservation Committee (JNCC) and includes a range of environmental indicators including deforestation, biodiversity and water use among others. This underlying data is disaggregated by commodity, meaning that the impact of one specific commodity can be understood, as well as allowing us to identify which commodities are causing the most impact. The development of this evidence reflects our desire to further our understanding of our impact on the natural environment and our commitment to leave a lighter footprint on the global environment and promote sustainability in international supply chains as set out in the Environmental Improvement Plan. This work was incorporated into the Outcome Indicator Framework (Indicator K1) for the first time in 2022. It will be updated over time to track the impact of UK domestic consumption on the global environment. This evidence is already being used to inform policymaking, and further improvements in the use of the indicator are being explored. However, while this evidence better informs our understanding of the actions that may be needed, it is currently unable to monitor relevant UK-specific changes to supply chain sustainability. decisive action to support this. However, the Government will not consider setting a target until it can be certain that it would be supported by a robust evidence base and would not result in unintended consequences, such as the potential offshoring of environmental impacts.