The devastating floods in eastern Libya in September 2023 underscore how climate vulnerability exacerbates the untenable political status quo in Libya. The UK believes an inclusive, representative political solution that delivers long-term stability and security is the key to ensuring effective governance. Libya has domestic funds available for its recovery. The challenge for reconstruction is the absence of financial transparency through a body which reflects the views of all Libyans across geographic and political divides. The UK is fully committed to supporting Special Representative of the Secretary-General (SRSG) Bathily's efforts to drive forward a UN-facilitated, Libyan-led political process.

The UK is committed to strengthening our partnership with the Overseas Territories (OTs) to protect and sustainably manage our unique and globally significant environments, and to tackle climate priorities.

The FCDO is working in partnership with the Territories to develop Climate Security Assessments through the Conflict, Stability and Security Fund. Our Blue Belt Programme has provided over £35 million since 2016 to enhance marine protection and build climate change resilience. The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA), as the lead UK Government Department in this area, continues to make support available through Darwin Plus for biodiversity and conservation projects in the OTs which aim to improve resilience to climate change.

Climate change is likely to result in lower oxygen and greater acidity in the waters around South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands (SGSSI), together with reduced sea ice and increasing iceberg scour. Over time, these will likely lead to changes in the distribution and range of many of SGSSI's marine species, with krill and krill-eating animals likely to move further south, as new species from lower latitudes will become established in the region. The Government of SGSSI's ongoing review of the Marine Protected Area (MPA) will consider any new information on the effects of climate change and whether the current MPA measures are sufficiently precautionary given the level of regional warming.

What steps his Department is taking to support the Overseas Territories with climate change adaptation.

I am reassured that the UK is investing heavily in climate change adaptation. Does my hon. Friend agree that the best way of future-proofing that is for the FCDO to appoint a dedicated Minister for all the overseas territories and to ensure that the UK never relinquishes sovereignty for any of them?

As you know, Mr Speaker, our global British family in the UK overseas territories contains 94% of all the unique species that the UK is responsible for. These huge marine areas throughout the world’s oceans are hugely vulnerable to climate change, yet are negligible contributors to it. It has been great to see more OTs sign up to the blue belt initiative, work with groups such as Great British Oceans and attend the recent COP. What is the Minister doing to encourage more overseas territories to join the blue belt and to assist overseas territories to get access to strategic international funding for conservation, adaptation and resilience?

The FCDO is working in partnership with the territories to develop climate security assessments through the conflict, stability and security fund. Our blue planet programme has provided over £35 million since 2016 to enhance marine protection and build climate change resilience.

The UK is committed to tackling climate change. In the Maghreb region, climate action and collaboration to mitigate or adapt to impacts, including on agriculture, tourism and fisheries, is a priority for UK engagement and support. Such engagement forms part of our dialogue with regional governments, UN agencies, and multilateral development banks. These partners are involved in practical collaboration through initiatives such as the Breakthroughs Agenda, while bilateral programming includes work to support more accurate climate and weather data to inform action. We are also working closely with the United Arab Emirates COP28 presidency to press for additional funding for vulnerable communities.

It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.

The UK Government regularly discusses the issue of organised crime with all levels of the Brazilian government. The Foreign Secretary visited Brazil in May and witnessed first-hand Brazil's efforts to tackle the very real issue of environmental crime in the Amazon. The UK Government is taking steps to support these efforts, including through the UK - Brazil Partnership on Green and Inclusive Growth, which the Foreign Secretary signed during his visit, and which will drive strengthened cooperation and dialogue including on efforts to tackle illegal gold supply chains, a key driver of environmental crime. In March, His Majesty's Ambassador to Brazil met Brazil's Justice Minister, Flavio Dino, to discuss wider security issues in the Amazon and UK support to help address organised crime.

The UK recognises that the current impacts of climate change are leading to losses and damages including in the British Overseas Territories. The UK welcomes the establishment of new funding arrangements for loss and damage including a fund and will play an active role on the Transitional Committee set up to progress these issues. Terms of any funding arrangements are yet to be developed so it is not possible to say at this stage who will be eligible.

Pacific Island Countries (PICs), as Small Island Developing States (SIDs), are amongst the most vulnerable to the impacts of climate change. At COP27 the UK reaffirmed commitment to the Glasgow Climate Pact, and will continue to work closely with Pacific Island Countries to reform the international architecture to improve SIDs access to finance. In November 2021, we announced the 'Small Island Developing States Adaptation and Resilience' Programme, which will help SIDs draw down climate and wider concessional finding.

In November, the Minister for Indo-Pacific attended the 12th Pacific Community Ministerial conference, and expressed support for the Pacific Island Forum's recently launched 2050 Strategy for a Blue Pacific Continent.

The Government considers the distributional impact of its interventions on different groups, including low income households, and our National Adaptation Programme sets out the steps the Government will be taking, until the next five year plan in 2023, to further adapt to climate change. Its central aim is to build resilience across the economy, and draws from across a large body of cross-Government work. To take just one example, the Government’s capital investment programme in flooding and coastal erosion is expected to provide over a ten-fold economic return on the initial outlay.

The Government welcomes the report by the Committee on Climate Change. We are committed to taking robust action to improve resilience to climate change, and will formally respond to the Committee’s detailed recommendations in October, in line with the timetable set out in the Climate Change Act.

On 12 June, the UK announced that we will end our contribution to the most serious environmental challenge we face - climate change, by legislating the introduction of a net zero emission target for 2050, following the Committee on Climate Change’s advice. We are one of the first major economies in the world to legislate for a net zero target. Meeting this target will require us to build on the progress already made, by further reducing emissions across all sectors of the economy.

Forests are vital in the fight against climate change and we are determined to grow woodland cover. The Government is delivering on a range of afforestation commitments including contributing £5.7M to kick start planting in the Northern Forest, £10 million for trees in towns and cities through the Urban Tree Challenge Fund and £50 million for new woodland through the Woodland Carbon Guarantee. There is now guidance to ensure better recognition of the wider natural capital benefits that trees can provide and we have just reappointed our Tree Champion for a further year to continue to lead engagement on a new England tree strategy, which we will consult on later this year.

The Committee for Climate Change’s recent report recognises the work we have done to lay the foundations to build a net zero economy. The Committee’s indicative recommendations on tree planting are ambitious, and we know we need to go further and faster to plant more trees.

The Committee on Climate Change published its report on 2 May. We very much welcome this analysis and will be responding in a timeframe that reflects the urgency of this crucial issue.

The Government is driving forward its manifesto commitment to plant 11 million trees over the course of this parliament.

We have kick started a vast Northern Forest, which will see 50 million trees planted from Liverpool to Hull; allocated £10 million to plant new trees in our towns and cities through the urban trees challenge fund; and appointed a Tree Champion to lead our engagement on a new English Tree Strategy. In the Autumn Budget, the Chancellor announced £50 million to help plant new woodlands through the Woodland Carbon Guarantee.

We have recently consulted on Best Practice Guidance and issued the Urban Tree Manual, which support the sustainable management of trees. The National Planning Policy Framework, published in July 2018, encourages better recognition of trees and woodlands for the wider natural capital benefits they can provide.

The Government recognises the importance of nature-based carbon sequestration and our ambitious 25 Year Environment Plan committed to leave the environment in a better state than we found it. Mitigating and adapting to climate change is essential if we are to meet this goal and the Government is taking action to deliver on this.

Tree planting is one of the main contributors to nature-based carbon sequestration and the Government supports this in a number of ways, including the manifesto commitment to plant 11 million trees by 2022. We also have a long term aspiration to increase woodland cover from 10% to 12%. Additionally, in the Autumn Budget the Chancellor announced £50 million to help support the planting of new woodlands through the Woodland Carbon Guarantee.

In relation to soil carbon sequestration and protection of existing soil carbon stores, our focus is on peatland restoration, both through Government funding and supporting private sector initiatives. For example, we are currently spending £10 million on four large scale peatland restoration projects across England.

Under the new Environmental Land Management Scheme we will pay land managers public money for public goods, which includes mitigation of climate change. This could be delivered through land managers sequestering carbon by, for example, peatland restoration and tree planting.

Defra publishes a UK Climate Change Risk Assessment (CCRA) every five years which reviews risks and opportunities associated with current and potential future climate change. The most recent CCRA was published in January 2017 and considered a range of scenarios, including global warming of 2⁰C and 4⁰C. The next CCRA will be published in early 2022.

At the end of this month we will release updated UK and global climate projections (UKCP18). These will be available for use by all decision makers to help them build resilience to climate change into their plans, and will form an important part of the evidence base informing the next CCRA.

The Government is committed to addressing the risks and tackling the effects from climate change.

Climate adaptation is integrated throughout policies and programmes across Government.

As set out in the Climate Change Act 2008, Defra publishes the Climate Change Risk Assessment every five years which highlights the climate risks requiring further action in the UK over the next five years. This is followed by the National Adaptation Programme which provides a common framework under which all Departments work together to demonstrate how the Government will address those risks and increase the nation’s resilience to climate change. The most recent National Adaptation Programme was published in July 2018.

Later this year the Government will publish, with the Met Office, an updated set of UK Climate Projections. This will be a key tool to help the Government, businesses and the public understand the future climate and enable them to make climate-resilient decisions.

The UK has been a leader in this area for more than a decade and will continue being one with clear and strong deliverables.

The Climate Change Act 2008 requires the Government to produce, every five years, an assessment of the risks to the United Kingdom arising from current and predicted climate change. Government published its second Climate Change Risk Assessment (CCRA) in January 2017 which endorses six priority risk areas identified by the independent evidence report produced by the Adaptation Sub-Committee in July 2016. This included risks to domestic and international food production and trade and potential opportunities from long-term, climate-related changes in global food production.

The CCRA notes a number of potential risks to UK agricultural production arising from, for example, vulnerability to water shortages, pests and disease, and extreme weather events. The report also observes that warmer weather and longer growing seasons may improve agricultural productivity.

The second National Adaptation Programme, published in July 2018, sets out how we aim to tackle the risks to domestic and international food production and trade that England is facing from a changing climate. For example, Government’s commitment to review and publish the updated UK Food Security Assessment.

The Government is committed to taking action to mitigate climate change and to adapt to its impact. As the cornerstone of future agriculture policy, the new environmental land management system will use public money for the provision of public goods, including supporting farmers and other land managers to mitigate and adapt to climate change.

Agricultural greenhouse gas emissions have reduced by 16% since 1990, with many farms using more efficient agricultural practices. Land use, land use change and forestry continue to provide benefits in carbon sequestration. The Government recognises the importance of reducing emissions further in these sectors. The Clean Growth Strategy and the 25 Year Environment Plan set out the Government’s ambition for how this will be achieved.

The Climate Change Act 2008 requires the Government to produce, every five years, an assessment of the risks to the United Kingdom arising from current and predicted climate change. Government published its second Climate Change Risk Assessment (CCRA) in January 2017 which endorses six priority risk areas identified by the independent evidence report produced by the Adaptation Sub-Committee in July 2016. This included risks to domestic and international food production and trade and potential opportunities from long-term, climate-related changes in global food production.

The CCRA notes a number of potential risks to UK agricultural production arising from, for example, vulnerability to water shortages, pests and disease, and extreme weather events. The report also observes that warmer weather and longer growing seasons may improve agricultural productivity.

The second National Adaptation Programme, published in July 2018, sets out how we aim to tackle the risks to domestic and international food production and trade that England is facing from a changing climate. For example, Government’s commitment to review and publish the updated UK Food Security Assessment.

The Government is committed to taking action to mitigate climate change and to adapt to its impact. As the cornerstone of future agriculture policy, the new environmental land management system will use public money for the provision of public goods, including supporting farmers and other land managers to mitigate and adapt to climate change.

Agricultural greenhouse gas emissions have reduced by 16% since 1990, with many farms using more efficient agricultural practices. Land use, land use change and forestry continue to provide benefits in carbon sequestration. The Government recognises the importance of reducing emissions further in these sectors. The Clean Growth Strategy and the 25 Year Environment Plan set out the Government’s ambition for how this will be achieved.

The Climate Change Act 2008 requires the Government to produce, every five years, an assessment of the risks to the United Kingdom arising from current and predicted climate change. Government published its second Climate Change Risk Assessment (CCRA) in January 2017 which endorses six priority risk areas identified by the independent evidence report produced by the Adaptation Sub-Committee in July 2016. This included risks to domestic and international food production and trade and potential opportunities from long-term, climate-related changes in global food production.

The CCRA notes a number of potential risks to UK agricultural production arising from, for example, vulnerability to water shortages, pests and disease, and extreme weather events. The report also observes that warmer weather and longer growing seasons may improve agricultural productivity.

The second National Adaptation Programme, published in July 2018, sets out how we aim to tackle the risks to domestic and international food production and trade that England is facing from a changing climate. For example, Government’s commitment to review and publish the updated UK Food Security Assessment.

The Government is committed to taking action to mitigate climate change and to adapt to its impact. As the cornerstone of future agriculture policy, the new environmental land management system will use public money for the provision of public goods, including supporting farmers and other land managers to mitigate and adapt to climate change.

Agricultural greenhouse gas emissions have reduced by 16% since 1990, with many farms using more efficient agricultural practices. Land use, land use change and forestry continue to provide benefits in carbon sequestration. The Government recognises the importance of reducing emissions further in these sectors. The Clean Growth Strategy and the 25 Year Environment Plan set out the Government’s ambition for how this will be achieved.

The Environment Agency (EA)’s Climate Ready Support Service provided project funding to seven Regional Climate Change Partnerships (RCCPs) through a collaborative agreement with Climate UK, their umbrella organisation. The EA made direct payments to a further two RCCPs, which were hosted by the EA. In total, the Climate Ready Support Service funded projects in nine RCCPs.

The Climate Ready Support Service closed in March 2016 and the EA does not have any official data regarding the RCCPs beyond this point.

The Government’s Clean Growth Strategy, published in October 2017, sets out how we will decarbonise the UK. The Strategy identified the important role for tree planting to contribute to carbon budget commitments, particularly in later carbon budget periods.

The Committee on Climate Change emphasised the importance of tree planting in its independent assessment of the Strategy, published in January this year. Furthermore, in April the government announced plans to ask the Committee on Climate Change to report on the implications of the Paris Agreement's target.