Download or read book House of Commons Environmental Audit Committee Biodiversity Ofsetting HC 750 written by Great Britain: Parliament: House of Commons: Environmental Audit Committee and published by The Stationery Office. This book was released on 2013-11-12 with total page 36 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Environmental Audit Committee reports that Government plans to introduce a system of 'biodiversity offsetting' for new building developments could enhance the way the planning system accounts for the damage done to valuable natural habitats, but the proposals must be improved to properly protect Britain's wildlife and woodlands. The Green Paper does not provide an evidence based analysis of how offsetting would deliver "biodiversity gain". The twenty minute assessment for calculating biodiversity losses at a site, proposed by Ministers, is also overly simplistic. It should include particular species, local habitat significance, ecosystem services provided - such as pollination and flood prevention - and 'ecosystem network' connectivity to reflect the full complexity of habitats. Sites of special scientific interest and ancient woodlands should be even more rigorously protected. A mandatory, rather than voluntary, offsetting system would allow more environmentally and economically viable offset projects to be brought forward. The report also warns of a danger that an offsetting market could produce many offsets of a similar, lowest-cost, type rather than a mixed range of habitats. Natural England should monitor schemes to ensure a balance of habitat types are covered in the offsets. It is also important to consider the implications of biodiversity offsetting for people's access to nature and well-being. A decision on the Government's offsetting proposals should not be made at this time. Offsetting pilots, set up in 2011, should be allowed to run their course and then be subjected to the independent evaluation previously promised by ministers.
Download or read book House of Commons Environmental Audit Committee Sustainability HC 613 written by Great Britain. Parliament. House of Commons. Environmental Audit Committee and published by The Stationery Office. This book was released on 2013 with total page 32 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This report examines how well new processes and systems for embedding sustainable development are working in the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills. This is the first report of its kind - examining an individual department in this way - by the Committee. It examines BIS performance against sustainable operations targets, the role of a 'Sustainability Champion' and a Sustainability Committee in BIS, and how well sustainability considerations are taken into account in policy-making case studies. These case studies included the Regional Growth Fund and the Industrial Strategies initiative. They found that overall the Department was delivering on their sustainable operations targets, although that was in part the result of reductions in staffing and the size of the BIS estate. On policy-making, however, analysis of specific case studies indicates that environmental and social aspects of sustainability are not getting the same attention as economic factors. The assessment process needs to be reformed to do so. Defra and the Cabinet Office should challenge other government departments which have similar grant schemes to do the same. They are also disconnected from the BIS Business Plan process, weakening the main vehicle by which Defra and the Cabinet Office challenge the sustainability-proofing of BIS policy-making. BIS, including its agencies and NDPBs, should produce sustainable development strategies, to provide a reference point for sustainability initiatives by senior management and the sustainability champion, and to allow all staff to readily understand the wider sustainable development imperatives
Download or read book House of Commons Environmental Audit Committee Energy Subsidies HC 61 written by Great Britain: Parliament: House of Commons: Environmental Audit Committee and published by The Stationery Office. This book was released on 2013-12-02 with total page 186 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Government is shifting the goal-posts on fuel poverty so that official statistics record far fewer households as fuel-poor. The changes to the fuel poverty definition and target, in part being made through amendments to the Energy Bill, should be stopped unless the Government is prepared to make a public commitment to end fuel poverty altogether. A short-term bid to cut bills must not throw energy and climate change policy off-course. In the longer term green levies could actually keep bills down if they drive energy efficiency improvements that cut the cost of heating our homes. Insulating homes and supporting green technologies is vital to help the fuel poor and cut the emissions causing climate change. At the Rio+20 Summit and the G20, the Government committed itself to phasing out fossil fuel subsidies that encourage wasteful consumption and contribute to greenhouse gas emissions. The Government must set a target to reduce subsidies to harmful fossil fuels. The Government should also use the Autumn Statement as an opportunity to provide a clear and comprehensive analysis of energy subsidies in the UK. The report also looks at whether Government support for the new nuclear power station at Hinkley Point constitutes a subsidy and concludes that it does, despite the Government's assurance otherwise. The Government's policy of 'no public subsidy for new nuclear' requires it to provide only 'similar' support to that provided to other types of energy, but even on that basis the deal for Hinkley Point C is 'dissimilar', notably on support for decommissioning and waste.
Download or read book Biodiversity Offsetting written by Great Britain: Parliament: House of Commons: Environmental Audit Committee and published by . This book was released on 2014-03-28 with total page 7 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Government response to HC 750, session 2013-14 (ISBN 9780215064509)
Download or read book House of Commons Envirionmental Audit Committee Green Finance HC 191 written by Great Britain: Parliament: House of Commons: Environmental Audit Committee and published by The Stationery Office. This book was released on 2014-03-06 with total page 176 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Environmental Audit Committee points out that there is a large green finance gap. Investments are currently running at less than half of the £200 billion needed in energy infrastructure alone by 2020 to deliver national and international emissions reduction targets. And stock markets could be inflating a 'carbon bubble' by over-valuing companies with fossil fuel assets that will have to be left unburned in order to limit climate change. The Bank of England's Financial Policy Committee should seek advice from the independent Committee on Climate Change to help it monitor the systemic risk to financial stability associated with a carbon bubble. To address the green finance gap, the Government must provide a joined-up, stable and certain policy framework that maintains investor confidence and helps markets price in the cost of carbon. The Green Investment Bank has made a good start but does not currently have the power to borrow in order to leverage and enlarge its investments - limiting its potential to fill the green finance gap. Take up of the Green Deal has been poor and the Government must make it simpler and more attractive to households. The European Commission's (EC) proposed new rules for State Aid in the energy sector could limit the finance available to support community owned energy schemes. The Government must play a central role in agreeing ambitious and binding international commitments on climate change, both in the EU and in the run up to the UN climate talks in Paris 2015.
Download or read book Environmental Audit Select Committee Environmental Crime and the Courts Environmental Audit Select Committee Sixth Report with Proceedings Evidence HC 126 I iv Not Printed Separately and Appendices written by and published by . This book was released on 2003 with total page 131 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book The Privatisation of Biodiversity written by Colin T. Reid and published by Edward Elgar Publishing. This book was released on 2016-08-26 with total page 288 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Current regulatory approaches have not prevented the loss of biodiversity across the world. This book explores the scope to strengthen conservation by using different legal mechanisms such as biodiversity offsetting, payment for ecosystem services and conservation covenants, as well as tradable development rights and taxation. The authors discuss how such mechanisms introduce elemhents of a market approach as well as private sector initiative and resources. They show how examples already in operation serve to highlight the design challenges, legal, technical and ethical, that must be overcome if these mechanisms are to be effective and widely accepted.
Download or read book House of Commons Environmental Audit Committee Minutes of Proceedings of the Committee Together with Its Sub committee written by and published by . This book was released on 2003 with total page 50 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book HC 885 A 2010 15 Progress Report written by Great Britain. Parliament. House of Commons. Environmental Audit Committee and published by The Stationery Office. This book was released on 2015 with total page 53 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book HS2 and the Environment HC 1076 written by Great Britain. Parliament. House of Commons. Environmental Audit Committee and published by The Stationery Office. This book was released on 2014 with total page 56 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Government needs to show real commitment to dealing with the impact that HS2 will have on our countryside and wildlife. It is imperative that an infrastructure project on such a large scale implements proper environmental safeguards and ensures that impacts are minimised. That won't happen if HS2 Ltd can avoid implementing safeguards if they consider them to be 'impracticable' or 'unreasonable'. There needs to be a separate ring-fenced budget for these safeguards and for compensation, separate from the rest of the HS2 budget, to prevent the environment being squeezed if HS2 costs grow. The Government's aim of 'no net biodiversity loss' on HS2 is not good enough - it should aim for environmental gains that the Government promised in its white paper on the Natural Environment. In any case, the Government can't demonstrate it will cause no net harm because it has still not surveyed 40% of the land to be used. Ancient woodland should be treated with particular care. HS2 will damage some woodlands, and where that happens, compensation measures should be much higher than the level indicated in the calculation that HS2 Ltd will use. The HS2 Hybrid Bill will be given its second reading on 28 April, after which it will be referred to a dedicated select committee to examine 'petitions' against it. The Committee criticises the procedure's failure to fully address the requirements of EU and national directives on environmental assessments, which it wants to be at least partly rectified in the forthcoming Parliamentary proceedings
Download or read book House of Commons Environmental Audit Committee the Sustainable Development Strategy Illusion Or Reality written by and published by . This book was released on 2004 with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Environmental Audit Select Committee Greening Government Environmental Audit Select Committee Thirteenth Report with Proceedings Evidence previously Hc 961 i and Appendices written by and published by . This book was released on 2002 with total page 100 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Environmental Audit Select Committee Environmental Audit the First Parliament Environment Audit Select Committee First Report in 2 Volumes with Proceedings Evidence HC 444 I ii 1999 2000 Not Printed Separately and Appendices written by and published by . This book was released on 2000 with total page 165 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Environmental Audit Select Committee Pre budget Report Minutes of Evidence 5 December 2001 Reprinted in HC 363 II written by and published by . This book was released on 2001 with total page 93 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Environmental Audit Select Committee Environmental Crime Wildlife Crime Environmental Audit Select Committee Twelfth Report with Proceedings Evidence HC 605 I iv Not Printed Separately and Appendices written by and published by . This book was released on 2003 with total page 207 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Treasury Environmental Audit Select Committee The Pre Budget Report 2000 Fuelling the Debate Environmental Audit Select Committee First Special Report Government Response to the Committee s Second Report of Session 2000 01 HC 71 written by and published by . This book was released on 2001 with total page 10 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book House of Commons Environmental Audit Committee Buying Time for Forests Minutes of Evidence written by and published by . This book was released on 2002 with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
