PARLIAMENTARY WRITTEN QUESTION
Greenhouse Gas Emissions (13 October 2014)

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what progress has been made so far by the agricultural sector towards meeting its Greenhouse Gas Action Plan; what assessment her Department has made of the effectiveness of that initiative; and what the relationship is of the Plan to international emission comparisons.

Asked by:
Kerry McCarthy (Labour)

Defra carried out a review of the industry’s Greenhouse Gas Action Plan in 2012. The review concluded that progress was sufficient for industry to meet their overall ambition to reduce Greenhouse Gas (GHG) emissions from agriculture by 3 MtCO2 by 2022 compared to a 2007 baseline.

A further review will take place in 2016. To support this Defra has developed a set of indicators to track progress on agricultural mitigation. The results are published in our annual Agricultural and Climate Change Statistics and show an increased uptake in certain farm practices that reduce GHGs. These emissions have also been reduced whilst maintaining levels of agricultural production.

The Plan is focused on our domestic agricultural sector and meeting the targets set by the Committee for Climate Change. Our investment in the Greenhouse Gas Research and Development platform will provide a more detailed and accurate inventory of GHGs which will also enable international emission comparisons.

Answered by:
George Eustice (Conservative)
16 October 2014