House of Commons - An environmental scorecard - Environmental Audit Committee

An environmental scorecard - Environmental Audit Committee Contents

1 A Scorecard

1. The Prime Minister stated in a speech in May 2010 that "we've got a big, big opportunity, here. I want us to be the greenest government ever—a very simple ambition and one that I'm absolutely committed to achieving."[1] The 2011 Natural Environment White Paper set out another ambition, that this be "the first generation to leave the natural environment of England in a better state than it inherited".[2] It stated, correctly, that a healthy natural environment is the foundation of sustained economic growth, prospering communities and personal well-being.[3] A healthy environment is one of the conditions for sustainable development, ensuring that the benefits of nature are available to future generations as much as they are to ours. There is a close link between the environment and "the well-being people get from it".[4]

2. In an international context, work on environmental protection has been framed by the June 2012 UN Conference on Sustainable Development (the 'Rio+20' Earth Summit'), the 2010 Nagoya Biodiversity Summit, UN climate change negotiations and other forums. Nine 'planetary boundaries' have been identified within which "humanity can operate safely", of which three might already have been exceeded—climate change, the nitrogen cycle and biodiversity loss.[5] The Rio+20 Summit set out wide ranging objectives,[6] and highlighted the importance of developing 'Sustainable Development Goals' and 'Development Goals' for the period beyond 2015 when the Millennium Development Goals would come to an end. These are currently being developed and are due to be negotiated and agreed at the UN in September 2015. We looked at early work on these Goals in our reports on the Rio+20 Summit and noted the intention for them to include environmental aspects.[7] We intend to further examine the development of the Goals later this year. The Prime Minister did not attend Rio+20, which, we concluded in our 2013 report, "undermined the Government's attempts to demonstrate its commitment to the sustainable development agenda, not just internationally but also at home in the UK".[8]

3. The 2010 Nagoya Biodiversity Summit produced worldwide targets for protection and improvement of biodiversity, including decreasing the rate of loss of forests and other natural habitats by at least half, restoring at least 10% of degraded areas and protection of coral reefs.

4. On climate change, which affects a number of other environmental areas, there are plans to agree a binding global emissions reduction commitment in autumn 2015. We have reported on this in a number of inquiries during this Parliament, in terms of the need for an international climate change deal, the impact of energy subsidies[9] and the management of UK carbon budgets,[10] but also in environmental terms on how climate change is affecting the Arctic[11] and contributing to a rise in the number of non-native invasive species.[12]

5. There is more to be done on environmental protection also on the domestic front. The Government established the Natural Capital Committee in 2012 to provide independent advice to Government on the sustainable use of England's natural capital. Its latest report in March 2014 did not identify any approaching "unsustainable use" of natural capital—natural assets with 'continuous decline' and approaching any 'safe limit' beyond which the deterioration would be difficult to reverse"[13]—but concluded that the current trajectory would not allow the Government to achieve its aim of this being the first generation to leave the natural environment in a better state (paragraph 1).[14] Wildlife and Countryside Link's 2013 Nature Check report found that some Government policies on the natural environment were delivering positive results, but that progress overall had been static. Their report rated nine Government commitments as red, twelve as amber and four as green (Appendix 1).[15] Defra does not share this assessment. In February 2014 it reported that two-thirds of the commitments within the Natural Environment White Paper had been implemented, with others in progress.[16] Defra also told us that

The Government believes it has a strong record on environmental protection and has put in place policies that will address the environmental issues set out in the National Audit Office's report:

· The UK has published plans to halve its greenhouse gas emissions by 2023-27 compared to 1990 levels and has unlocked £31 billion of investment in renewable energy since 2010.

· Government has introduced a charge which will cut the number of plastic bags being used and dumped by 60%.

· £3.2 billion will be spent on flood and coastal defences in this Parliament helping better protect 465,000 properties by the end of the decade.

· Over the next seven years more than £3 billion will be spent working with land managers to enhance biodiversity and improve the quality of English water bodies.

· Nearly 65,000 ha of new priority habitat have been created since 2011.^.[17]

Our inquiry

6. We undertook this inquiry to establish a clearer picture of the state of the environment in England. In 2010, soon after we formed as a Committee, the National Audit Office produced for us a briefing report on the state of environmental protection in 10 areas, which showed gaps in performance in a number of them.[18] In this inquiry we have sought to examine progress on those environmental areas, and the use of policy levers which could help to secure improvements. Our focus has been on the position domestically rather than globally.

7. We asked the National Audit Office to produce an updated briefing, which was published in June 2014.[19] We took oral evidence in July from a range of NGOs—the Aldersgate Group, RSPB, the Wildlife Trusts, WWF and the Wildfowl and Wetlands Trust—and from Dan Rogerson MP, Parliamentary Under-secretary of State at the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra). The written evidence we received included details from RSPB and the Wildlife Trusts on their joint proposals for a Nature and Wellbeing Act[20] (paragraph 52). We also took into account the many reports we have produced during this Parliament which have examined the environmental protection areas involved; a continuing commitment for us following the abolition of the Sustainable Development Commission (paragraph 30).[21]

8. We examine below the current position on environmental protection, and in Part 2 the scope for further use of particular policy levers. In the Annex to this report we have provided an analysis for each of the 10 environmental areas covered by the NAO's latest briefing report, drawing on the evidence we received in this inquiry as well as our previous reports. Our aim has been to produce an environmental scorecard of progress to date, identifying where further effort is needed. But we have focused our recommendations on the structural changes required—to data collection, strategy and processes—to provide a foundation for effective environmental protection in the environmental areas covered. Actions needed in those individual areas warrant their own inquiries.

Our Scorecard assessments

9. We have assigned a 'traffic-light' score for each environmental area examined, as follows:

RED: Deterioration since 2010, or progress at a pace unlikely to put improvement on a satisfactory trajectory by the end of the 2015-2020 Parliament.

AMBER: Unsatisfactory progress.

GREEN: Satisfactory improvement since 2010.

Our analysis, along with the NAO's,[22] indicates that there is room for improvement in each of the 10 environmental areas examined. Our assessment is that biodiversity, air pollution and flooding are particular areas of concern for UK policy-making, and 'red' on our scorecard. The remainder are 'amber'.

Emissions and climate change AMBER

Air pollution RED

Biodiversity RED

Forests AMBER

Soils AMBER

Flooding and coastal protection RED

Resource efficiency and waste AMBER

Freshwater environment AMBER

Water availability AMBER

Marine environment AMBER

Our analysis and evidence, detailed in the Annex to this report, is summarised below.

REDS

Biodiversity

10. Defra's 2013 assessment of progress against the Government's Biodiversity 2020 Indicator targets showed improvement against 13 measures, deterioration against 13 measures and little or no change in 11 (12 measures were in development or had insufficient data)[23] (see Appendix 2). The latest Sustainable Development Indicators—a different set of metrics (paragraph 22)—show a deterioration in the counts for three out of four types of bird populations, used as a litmus test for the SDI's 'UK wildlife' indicator.[24] Invasive species, which harm native biodiversity, are becoming more prevalent. Many witnesses described biodiversity as a particular area of concern, and the RSPB and Wildlife Trusts told us that one in 10 species monitored globally is on the brink of extinction.[25]

Details and analysis are in the Annex at page 36.

Air pollution

11. Emissions of a number of airborne pollutants increased in 2013,[26] after being steady between 2010 and 2012 and in a longer term decline before that.[27] The UK failed to meet targets for nitrogen dioxide pollution in 34 of the 43 zones specified in the EU Ambient Air Quality Directive in 2012, resulting in the European Commission launching infraction proceedings against the UK in February 2014 in regard to 16 zones that would not be compliant by 2015.[28] In July 2014, Defra reassessed the time likely to be needed to meet nitrogen dioxide limits, stating that Greater London and two other areas would not meet the required levels until after 2030.[29] We are currently conducting a follow up inquiry into air quality, and will report on this issue later in the year. It is clear from the latest statistics, however, that this remains a major environmental gap.

Details and analysis are in the Annex at page 35.

Flooding and coastal protection, and water availability

12. 2.4 million properties are at risk of flooding from rivers or the sea, and three million from surface water (including some properties at risk of both). There was widespread and persistent flooding in the winter of 2013-14. The Environment Agency and local defences protected properties in approximately 1.3 million instances.[30] In 2013 Wildlife and Countryside Link assessed the Government's development of natural flood alleviation measures as "consistently poor".[31]

13. Nine of the 24 water areas in England and Wales are classified as experiencing serious water stress. In 2012-13, the 22 water companies of England and Wales reported in aggregate the lowest level of water leakage since records began in the early 1990s. Freshwater abstraction, on the other hand, increased by 20% in 2012, which Defra attributed to an increase use for hydropower. Demand is expected to continue to increase.[32]

Details and analysis are in the Annex at pages 41 and 45.

AMBERS

Emissions and climate change

14. While emissions are still rising globally, they have been falling in the UK. The Climate Change Act 2008 requires Government to reduce the UK's greenhouse gas emissions by at least 80% by 2050 against a 1990 baseline, and the Government's carbon budgets, designed to deliver that reduction, have so far been achieved. The Committee on Climate Change calculated that in the UK emissions rose by 3.5% in 2012,[33] but in 2013 fell by 2%.[34] In 2013, 5.2% of our energy was generated from renewables, towards an EU target for 2020 of 15%.[35] Although Sustainable Development Indicator statistics show that on a consumption basis emissions have been falling since 2007,[36] the UK's carbon footprint has increased over the past two decades to be one of the largest in the world.[37]

15. There remains a significant gap in low-carbon infrastructure investment, which has been exacerbated by the uncertainty caused by the Government's review of the Fourth carbon budget. The Government will have to identify additional emissions reduction policies to deliver that now-agreed budget. Meanwhile, the implementation of energy efficiency measures, including the Green Deal and emissions-related housing standards, has fallen short of what is required.[38]

Details and analysis are in the Annex at page 31.

Forests

16. 55% of England's woodlands are managed under the 'UK Forestry Standard', an increase from 52% in 2011. The Government's ambition of two-thirds of all woodland meeting the Standard by 2018 and then rising to 80% would require significant acceleration of progress. Around 2,500 hectares of new woodland has been created in England annually with Forestry Commission funding since 2008, with woodland cover reaching 10% in 2013,[39] but this will have to be increased to 5,000 hectares a year.[40]

Details and analysis are in the Annex at page 38.

Soils

17. Defra has proposed that by 2030 England's soils will be managed sustainably, including a cessation of the horticultural use of peat. There have been improvements to the health of upland peatlands in England, although the overall level of degradation is still high. There has been concern regarding the withdrawal of central Government grants for local authorities' work on contaminated land remediation,[41] which may have health, carbon sequestration and flood resilience impacts.

Details and analysis are in the Annex at page 39.

Resource efficiency and waste

18. The current way our economy consumes resources is not sustainable.[42] Household recycling rates have plateaued at 43% in England, jeopardising the prospect of meeting a 50% target for 2020. We recently made several recommendations for supporting a circular economy, including embedding the circular economy in industrial strategy, differential VAT rates linked to the environmental impact of products and the introduction of Government advice on a standard approach to recycling for local authorities.[43]

Details and analysis are in the Annex at page 43.

The freshwater environment

19. The EU Water Framework Directive requires all water bodies to be in good ecological status by 2027, and the Government has set an interim target of 32% of surface water bodies being in good ecological status by 2015. There has been little change, however, in the ecological status of England's surface water bodies since 2010. The Environment Agency assess that 25% are of good ecological status and that the 32% target will not be met, but also that current measures will deliver significant improvements.[44]

Details and analysis are in the Annex at page 44.

The marine environment

20. England's first marine plans were adopted in spring 2014 and plans for all 11 English areas are required to be completed by 2022.[45] Our conclusion that the Government's implementation of only 27 Marine Conservation Zones and its plans for a small number of others in 2015 and 2016 suggest a lack of ambition[46] was not dispelled by the Government's Response to our Report on Marine protected areas.[47] The EU's 2008 Marine Strategy Framework Directive requires member states to achieve 'good environmental status' in Europe's seas by 2020. The Government is in the process of implementing EU reforms to the Common Fisheries Policy intended to limit catches at sustainable levels by 2015.[48] Assessments of the UK's marine environment status show an improving picture for fish stocks since 2008, and for birds and seals over the 2005-2010 period.[49]

Details and analysis are in the Annex at page 46.

21. It is not possible to measure precisely whether, as the Prime Minister intended, this is the "greenest Government ever". It is possible however to assess the state of progress in particular areas of the environment. In none of the 10 environmental areas we have examined is satisfactory progress being made despite the necessary urgency. We have assessed biodiversity, air pollution and flooding as 'red' risks, and thus areas of particular concern, in our 'scorecard assessment'. These are areas where the environment has clearly deteriorated since 2010 or where progress has been at a pace unlikely to put improvement on a satisfactory trajectory by the end of the 2015-2020 Parliament (see Annex). As we discuss below, such an assessment is based on incomplete data on the environment, which once addressed might add further areas to the list. We discuss in Part 2 the policy levers needed to help bring the necessary improvements. Government must commit to improve the situation in all environmental areas, if not in this Parliament then over the term of the next.

Measuring progress

22. Any assessment of the state of environmental protection across the areas we have examined depends on the availability and quality of the data. In our 2012 report on the Government's then draft Sustainable Development Indicators[50] we noted that some of the 14 proposed 'Environment' indicators (complementing Economy and Society indicators) were still to be developed—'water availability', 'land use development', 'river water quality', 'status of species and habitats' and 'UK biodiversity impacts overseas'[51]—although by July 2014 only the last of these indicators had still to be put in place.[52] We recommended that when new Sustainable Development Goals were developed (paragraph 2), the SDIs should be reviewed to ensure consistency between these indicator sets. The Biodiversity 2020 indicators[53] also present useful monitoring statistics (paragraph 10), covering a diverse range of areas including habitat protection, animal populations, public use and enjoyment of the natural environment, climate change impacts and adaptation, and the impact of hazardous materials.

23. More broadly, however, the Natural Capital Committee has identified major gaps in data for monitoring the state of natural capital. As we noted in our recent Well-being report, the NCC identified in March 2014 that "integrating the environment into the economy is hampered by the almost complete absence of proper accounting for natural assets",[54] identifying:

They reported that:

24. In our current inquiry, some of our witnesses also highlighted data problems. The Woodland Trust were critical of the method of measuring progress on woodland cover:

There is a lack of transparency about what the Woodland Cover Statistics actually mean in practice. Woodland losses are barely referred to in the statistics, and are not being recorded adequately, making their interpretation in terms of overall woodland cover impossible to access. It is vital losses are recorded if any perceived progress towards the aspiration is to be accurately measured and achieved.

They recommended that Natural England's Ancient Woodland Inventory be completed and extended, with a central analysis conducted of the amount of ancient woodland being lost annually and Woodland Cover Statistics revised to include woodland losses.[58]

25. On the marine environment, the Natural Environment Research Council saw a need for research to set baselines for monitoring contaminants and marine litter to help ensure compliance with the 2008 Marine Strategy Framework Directive (paragraph 20).[59] Wildlife and Countryside Link wanted the Government to implement biodiversity monitoring and surveillance systems, which could complement public, private and voluntary sector work to help deliver the 2020 Biodiversity Indicators.[60] A clearer understanding of the gaps in environmental data would provide a basis for Government, environmental groups and academia to direct their research efforts and funding.

26. Data on the state of the environment is available through the Biodiversity 2020 Indicators and the Sustainable Development Indicators, providing a useful insight on progress (and deterioration). There are, however, as the Natural Capital Committee have reported, "crucial evidence gaps relating to the condition of individual natural assets". The Government, as we have recommended previously, should put the Natural Capital Committee on a permanent footing to allow it to continue to co-ordinate a programme to improve environmental monitoring data. The Government should use the development of the UN Sustainable Development Goals as an opportunity to identify any data gaps and inconsistencies between databases, to produce a single dataset on the state of the environment. This would, as we describe in Part 2 below, provide a key component of an urgently required overarching Environment Strategy.

1 Prime Minister's speech at DECC (14 May 2010) Back

2 Defra, The Natural Choice: securing the value of nature, Cm 8082 (June 2011), para 2 Back

3 Defra, The Natural Choice: securing the value of nature, Cm 8082 (June 2011), page 2 Back

4 Environmental Audit Committee, Fifteenth Report of Session 2013-14, Well-being, HC 59, para 12 Back

5 Environmental Audit Committee, Eighth Report of Session 2010-12, Preparations for the Rio+20 summit, HC 1026,
para 12 Back

6 United Nations, The Future We Want (June 2012) Back

7 Environmental Audit Committee, Eighth Report of Session 2010-12, Preparations for the Rio+20 summit, HC 1026; Environmental Audit Committee, Second Report of Session 2013-14, Outcomes of the UN Rio+20 Earth Summit,
HC 200 Back

8 Environmental Audit Committee, Second Report of Session 2013-14, Outcomes of the UN Rio+20 Earth Summit,
HC 200, page 3 Back

9 Environmental Audit Committee, Ninth Report of Session 2013-14, Energy subsidies, HC61 Back

10 Environmental Audit Committee, Fifth Report of Session 2013-14, Progress on carbon budgets, HC 60 Back

11 Environmental Audit Committee, Second Report of Session 2012-13, Protecting the Arctic, HC 171; Environmental Audit Committee, Fourth Report of Session 2013-14, Protecting the Arctic: the Government's response, HC 333 Back

12 Environmental Audit Committee, Fourteenth Report of Session 2013-14, Invasive non-native species, HC 913 Back