Speeches by Gardiner.

“Before the Minister does that, could he look at what we might learn from the American fish management plans, which are gold standard and have had the clear management objectives that, I am afraid, many of ours lack?”

“I want to clarify something in relation to pollack. My understanding is that the scientific advice given out in June was that the total allowable catch should be set at zero, but it was not set at zero. The quota was set at 925 tonnes; even now, the stocks are much lower this year because the decision was not in line w…”

“Could I pick up on the electric vehicles? In your July report you highlighted the need to increase electric vehicles sales from 16.5% of new car sales in 2023 to between 80% and 100%, and for vans from 5.9%—reinforcing what you have just said about vans—to between 70% and 100% by 2030. You say that the slowdown in grow…”

“You were the Chief Economist at the National Infrastructure Commission. Can you explain to the Committee what is required to meet the resilience standards for our national infrastructure and which parts of our critical infrastructure—our power supplies, our hospitals—are currently at risk, given the projections that yo…”

“I think you said, “NAP3 lacks the pace and ambition to address growing climate risks, which we are already experiencing in the UK”. You talked about slow progress. It is damning, absolutely damning.”

“The right tree, in the right place, at the right time.”

“Yes, if I can just follow up on that, because in your report you talk about consumption emissions—you actually say it is at figure 1.7, but it is not, it is at figure 1.9—”

“That is the correction that needs to be made on page 82, but the key thing here is you say, “The latest consumption emissions data saw a large uptick in part due to increased non-EU imports … Unilateral measures such as the CBAM”—that is the carbon border adjustment mechanism—“will be most effective if paired with assi…”

“I am just interested in what you were saying about the tree planting being so important. We often talk about the right tree and the right place, but you were specifically talking about the time it takes for those trees to sequester carbon. We can look at this from a biodiversity point of view, in which case we might go…”

“The answer may be provided by my colleague, Sarah Gibson, whose constituency has just felt the impact of it. I take the point. Thank you very much.”

“It is to avoid Storm Bert; it is to avoid the flooding that we have just seen. You are right that we do not often see that connection being made when people are asking about whether we should continue with this policy or should we backtrack.”

“I think we have both made the point, yes, thanks very much. Professor Forster, you founded the Priestley Centre for Climate Futures. I know you do not claim to be Nostradamus but your ability to project into the future the impact of climate change is what I want to turn to now. The title of this inquiry is “Delivering …”

“I was merely picking up on what you said in your report.”

“Last July, the previous Government issued its third national adaptation plan, and this March the Climate Change Committee issued its independent assessment of NAP3. It said that it falls far short of what is needed, that it lacks the pace and ambition to address growing climate risks—which we are already experiencing—a…”

“Is it a recommendation that you wish this Committee would make?”

“Thank you for that. Dr Ellis, your association was asked by the Committee on Climate Change to do a piece of research with the CSE and you came back and said that most local plans are not fit for purpose when considering carbon emissions. You said that many of the local plans that are in production are not even conside…”

“Professor Scott thank you for introducing the Dasgupta review into our conversation—Ny/α must be less than or equal to G(S). I think you are right: the whole model of inclusive wealth that Dasgupta is talking about must be the foundation for this. It is really good to have you saying that to this Committee and I hope w…”

“Let me put this back to Councillor Wright. What I was pushing for was more something about the regulatory powers that local authorities have and whether you feel that you require further powers to enforce the environmental protections properly when the NPPF comes in.”

“Mr Stafford, do local authorities have the regulatory and legal powers that they need to ensure compliance?”

“Thank you very much. Councillor Wright, I would like to come back to you and perhaps also to Mr Stafford to talk about the resources that local authorities have, particularly if you look at what the Chartered Institute of Ecology and Environmental Management has said about the availability of ecologists in planning dep…”