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

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what recent assessment his Department has made of progress being made by businesses in the (a) hospitality, (b) retail and (c) leisure sectors in reducing their carbon emissions.

The Government encourages all UK businesses with 500 employees or fewer to visit the UK Business Climate Hub and sign up to the globally recognised small business climate commitment. Businesses, distinguished by sector including retail, hospitality and entertainment, gain access to a range of resources to help them achieve net zero emissions by 2050 at the latest.

Part of the commitment is disclosing progress on a yearly basis. In order to help businesses to report annually, they are now encouraged to use CDP’s new Climate Disclosure Framework.

The Government is also working closely with major trade associations across these sectors who have industry-wide net zero strategies. These include the British Retail Consortium who have published their Climate Action Roadmap, the Retail Sector Council who have produced an SME Green Guide, and Zero Carbon Forum who have released their Net Zero Roadmap, which is endorsed by UKHospitality.

The Government published the first ever hospitality strategy, which includes the commitment to help hospitality businesses and its supply to decarbonise. The recently formed Hospitality Sector Council was set up to work with the sector, by co-creating solutions while delivering the commitments set out in the strategy, such as developing a greener sector.