Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:

To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, if he will make an assessment of the potential merits of including mission targets on (a) natural capital, (b) the environment and (c) climate change in his levelling up objectives.

Natural capital, the environment and climate change are highly important for economic growth and well-being, both nationally and sub-nationally. There are well-developed policy strategies for protecting and enhancing natural capital, at the regional, national and international levels, already in place. This includes environmental targets, a key commitment in our Environment Act 2021, which will help deliver the Government's vision of leaving the environment in a better state than it was found, and the UK Government's commitment to decarbonising all sectors of the UK economy to meet our net zero target by 2050.