Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, by how much the UK waste management sector will have to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions by 2030 as a result of the agreement on effort sharing reached by the European Council and the European Parliament on 21 December 2017.

The provisional agreement reached on the Effort Sharing Regulation (ESR) in December 2017 does not set out emission reduction targets for each sector of the economy. Rather, the ESR sets an overall commitment to reduce emissions across the EU by 30% on 2005 levels by 2030 in the sectors covered by ESR; this includes the transport, waste, agriculture and buildings sectors. Each Member State’s actual target for their ESR sectors will vary as the effort needed to meet the EU target is allocated to Member States according to their GDP with an adjustment for cost effectiveness (e.g. the UK’s ESR target is a 37% reduction).

Under the UK’s Climate Change Act (2008) the UK has more stringent emission reduction targets than its EU target. The UK has already succeeded in reducing its emissions by 42% since 1990 while growing the economy by two thirds. The recently published Clean Growth Strategy set outs how the Government will build on this progress into the 2020s. It notes the progress to date in reducing emissions from waste and outlines a number further initiatives including; our ambition for zero avoidable waste by 2050, publishing a new Resources and Waste Strategy and exploring new and innovative ways to manage emissions from landfill. Further information can be found in the Clean Growth Strategy.

The contribution of the waste sector to meeting the UK’s 2030 emission reduction target will depend on the implementation of the detailed policies the UK adopts to meet its targets.

Whatever our future relationship with the EU, the UK’s commitment and leadership role in tackling climate change remains undimmed and working closely with the EU on this global challenge will remain important. Leaving the EU will not change any of our statutory commitments to reduce our emissions according to the Climate Change Act (2008) which is more ambitious than the UK’s EU target.