Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what plans he has to reduce methane and CO2 emissions from animal agriculture in order to help meet the UK's net zero emissions target.

The Government is committed to take action to mitigate climate change and to adapt to its impact. We are introducing three schemes that reward environmental benefits: the Sustainable Farming Incentive, Local Nature Recovery and Landscape Recovery. Together, these schemes are intended to provide a powerful vehicle for achieving the goals of the 25 Year Environment Plan and our commitment to net zero emissions by 2050, while supporting our rural economy. Through these schemes, farmers and other land managers may enter into agreements to be paid for delivering public goods, including adaptation to and mitigation of climate change.

The Agricultural Transition Plan outlined how the government will support farmers and land managers by investing the money freed up from phasing out direct payments to pay for improvements to the environment, improve animal health and welfare and reduce carbon emissions.

Defra takes a key role in supporting emissions reduction by providing scientific advice and evidence. This includes long term breeding work to develop more efficient, productive and resilient crops and livestock, as well as research on more efficient feeding strategies for livestock. Innovation in livestock feeds is resulting in promising technologies to reduce methane emissions. We have commissioned work to holistically evaluate suitability, scalability and net mitigation effects of methane-inhibiting livestock feed supplements in a UK context.

More detail on the Government plans to help the UK meet its climate targets will be set out in the Net Zero strategy, to be published ahead of COP26.