PARLIAMENTARY WRITTEN QUESTION
Environment Protection (19 December 2016)

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what progress her Department has made on the roll-out of Greening Government Commitments for 2016-2020; and if she will make a statement.

Asked by:
Rachael Maskell (Labour)

On 14 December this year, Defra published new Greening Government Commitments for the period 2016 to 2020. This action builds on the previous set of commitments, so implementation is essentially already underway.

Considerable progress has already been made. Between 2009-10 and 2014-15, the UK Government as a whole reduced its greenhouse gas emissions and waste by 22% each and its water consumption by 11%. The reporting framework was rolled forward during 2015-16 to enable further progress on the previous targets and to allow time to develop the new commitments. An annual report for 2015-16 is currently being prepared and we will continue to report on progress during the period covered by the new commitments.

Answered by:
Dr Thérèse Coffey (Conservative)
9 January 2017