Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment his Department has made of the effect of the net zero target on (a) the banking industry and (b) SMEs.

Our analysis of the impacts of net zero is ongoing and applies across the whole economy. In the coming year, HM Treasury will publish the Final Report of its Net Zero Review, which will set out the costs and opportunities of the transition to net zero. An interim report was published in December 2020 that set out the analysis undertaken so far. The final report will take this analysis further, focusing on innovation and growth, competitiveness, household impacts, and embedding the findings.

The government has also committed to publishing its comprehensive Net Zero Strategy this year, including further plans for reducing emissions across all the UK’s major economic sectors.