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

To ask His Majesty's Government when they will publish the findings of the UK Blue Carbon Evidence Partnership.

In the United Kingdom, there are currently significant evidence gaps that prevent the accurate reporting and therefore inclusion of emissions from coastal wetland habitats into the UK Greenhouse Gas Inventory. However, through the UK Blue Carbon Evidence Partnership, UK Administrations are working with the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) and Defra to address key research questions relating to blue carbon. One of the first aims of the Partnership has been to identify and then clearly set out the most pressing research questions relating to blue carbon in an Evidence Needs Statement. The Statement is likely to include identification of evidence gaps which are a barrier to the inclusion of coastal wetlands into the UK Greenhouse Gas Inventory as set out in a recently published report commissioned by BEIS; "Towards the inclusion of coastal wetlands in the UK LULUCF inventory" (a copy is attached to this answer).The UK Blue Carbon Evidence Partnership plans to publish the Evidence Needs Statement in spring 2023.