The Environmental Audit today heard evidence on climate change
and biodiversity from Lord Deben, Chairman of the Committee on
Climate Change and Tony Juniper, Chairman of Natural England.
Replying to committee chairman , Lord Deben said practically
nothing had been done to ensure new houses were properly
insulated. He also highlighted the problems of drought and
flooding and poor irrigation. There were no proper policies on
these issues.
Next year the CCC would publish a department-by-department
report, which would highlight the actions taken across
government. The differences between Secretaries of State was
remarkable. For example, knew exactly what was required
and was taking action. "You don't get the same feeling if you go
to the Department for Transport."
The government had 18 months to recover its credibility in
advance of COP26 next year. Asked by Ms Creagh what had gone
wrong, Lord Deben said the government had done "some of the most
remarkable things." For example, George Osborne's willingness to
give £6.7 billion to create the market for renewables was
revolutionary but made it look like things were going well, while
ignoring other problems. The government had been entirely wrong
in its thinking about the environment. Natural England could not
do its job because it did not have the means to look after sites
of special scientific interest. Successive governments had become
unwilling to listen to independent advice, except when it was
statutorily arranged, as in the case of the CCC.
Lord Deben said the first thing that needed to be done was to not
make the situation worse. Every new house had to be fit for
purpose, with a change in the building regulations. Secondly, the
date for all-electric vehicles should be brought forward, ideally
to 2030 or 2025 at the latest. The Environment Act and
Agriculture Act aimed to return the soil to its fertility which
would allow it to sequestrate the amount of carbon needed.
said the CCC had been weak
on looking at the damaging side of land use, especially in the
livestock sector, and she thought it was because Lord Deben had
said it would be difficult to convince the public to eat
"disgusting food." Lord Deben replied that he had not said that.
The question was how to get to net zero and the answer was to
offer a proposal that would be acceptable to the majority of
people. It would not be possible to convince 80% of the people to
change their diets from meat to plant-based food.
asked about achieving net zero
on the wider government estate. Tony Juniper said the government
influenced and owned a lot of land where there could be
improvements, such as a vast amount of peatlands.
Replying to , Mr Juniper said on climate
change there was real momentum, but there was not on
biodiversity. This was the core job of Natural England, but the
organisation was not currently equipped with resources to
discharge that duty. The Natural England front line was
"extremely thin."
raised the practice in
Cornwall, where there were organisations including the RSPB,
National Trust, NFU and others who were working well together. He
asked about the roles of various organisations regarding
countryside stewardship and the Environment Land Management
Scheme (ELMS). Mr Juniper hoped Natural England would play a role
to ensure there was the biggest benefit from public investment
and it may well be they would be accrediting advisers to work
with farmers.
