Source · Select Committees · Environmental Audit Committee
Recommendation 45
45
Accepted
Ensure biodiversity considerations are consistently incorporated into all trade agreements and operations
Recommendation
For the UK Government to make good on its declared intention to put environmental sustainability measures at the heart of global production and trade, Ministers must ensure that biodiversity considerations are more consistently incorporated into its trade agreements and operations. (Paragraph 168) 52 The UK’s contribution to tackling global deforestation
Government Response Summary
The government acknowledges the importance of working with partners, including through trade negotiations, and states it will continue to uphold high environmental standards in all trade agreements. It is working to secure provisions supporting environmental protection and aims to use trade relationships to advance its ambitions on forestry, nature, and sustainable supply chains.
Government Response
Accepted
HM Government
Accepted
We acknowledge the importance of working with partners through all avenues of collaboration to support this agenda, including our trade negotiations. In line with our international obligations, the UK will continue to uphold our high environmental standards in all our trade agreements. The Government shares the public’s high regard for the UK’s environmental protections and has made clear that we will not compromise on these in our Free Trade Agreements. Free Trade Agreements form a critical part of the UK’s trade programme and we are working on securing provisions that support the government’s ambition to protect the environment and address climate change. This includes preserving our right to regulate, including to meet climate change objectives, and affirming our shared commitment to the Paris Agreement. We also aim to use our trade agreements and our bilateral trading relationships to support UK ambition on forestry, nature and sustainable supply chains and to address deforestation and forest degradation. Moreover, at COP26, the UK led the way on securing endorsement from over 140 world leaders to work together to halt and reverse forest loss and land degradation by 2030 under the Glasgow Leaders’ Declaration on Forests and Land Use. Also, the UK, as COP26 Presidents, launched the Forest, Agriculture and Commodity Trade (FACT) Dialogue in February 2021, which convenes 28 major producer and consumer countries of internationally traded agricultural commodities to collectively agree actions to protect forests and other critical ecosystems, while promoting sustainable trade and development.