Recommendation 17

We asked the Treasury what it was doing to ensure departments factor the environment into their spending bids. Treasury told us that for the 2020 Spending Review it asked departments for an assessment of the contribution of their proposals towards delivering the UK’s statutory climate objectives in terms of emissions; and asked them in looser language to talk about the impact and coherence of their bids with the environment plan.45 Ahead of the spending review, Treasury updated guidance on assessing and valuing effects on the natural environment in the Green Book.46 It told us it also has an academic review on discounting underway, a key issue being whether the public value discount rate is an appropriate discounting rate for natural capital, given the associated health benefits.47