Reactive to Secretary of State Michael Gove’s environment speech

Reacting to Secretary of State Michael Gove’s environment speech today, Nick Molho, Executive Director at the Aldersgate Group, said: “We strongly welcome the Secretary of State laying out a clear political, economic and moral case to rapidly tackle environmental degradation. The Environment Bill isn’t only of significant importance to society and business – as Mr Gove rightly points out – but it is also core to the success of our overall environmental and climate policy as a healthier environment is critical to our ability to reduce emissions and adapt to climate change.

For the Bill to mark a genuine step change in environmental action, it is imperative that it contains an overarching objective to significantly improve the state of the natural environment. This objective must be supported by a comprehensive set of targets in secondary legislation aimed at improving key aspects of the natural environment such as air and water quality, soil quality, biodiversity and resource efficiency. This is essential to drive private sector investment in the years to come. By having legally binding targets and a comprehensive scrutiny and reporting regime that requires the government to take action to deliver them, the Bill will drive the recovery of our natural environment, grow our environment’s ability to absorb emissions and ensure that our homes, infrastructure and businesses are more resilient to the impacts of unavoidable climate change. It will also strengthen the position of UK businesses as global leaders in the provision of environmental technologies and services.”