Environmental protection
This page highlights some of the current parliamentary material available on environmental protection. This includes select committee reports, briefing papers on current legislation and other subjects produced by the parliamentary research services, and the latest Early Day Motions put down by MPs.
Standard Notes
| Date | Description |
|---|---|
| 13.02.2013 | Aviation: night flights |
| This note explains the rules on night flights at designated and non-designated airports. | |
| 08.02.2013 | Carbon Price Floor |
| This note summarises the Governmnent plans to introduce a carbon price floor by April 2013 | |
| 05.02.2013 | Bin collection - Alternate weekly collection |
| Waste collection can be a contentious issue, particularly when local authorities decide to move away from weekly bin collection to alternate weekly collection (AWC). This note describes the reasons why authorities have chosen to do this, and related issues including the recently announced Weekly Collections Support Scheme. | |
| 14.01.2013 | Green Belt |
| This note describes the Government's policy on the green belt, related plannning restrictions and concern over Green belt changes. | |
| 03.01.2013 | Green Investment Bank |
| The Government has announced the creation of a Green Investment Bank to stimulate investment in green technologie. This note includes details of its role and its location. |
Research Papers
| Date | Description |
|---|---|
| 13.12.2012 | Energy Bill |
| The Energy Bill [Bill 100 of 2012-13] seeks to implement 'electricity market reform' and through this achieve 'secure, clean and affordable' electricity supplies. The Bill was introduced to the Commons on 29 November 2012 and will have its Second Reading debate on 19 December 2012. A draft Bill was subject to pre-legislative scrutiny by the Energy and Climate Change Select Committee. | |
| 30.10.2012 | Antarctic Bill |
| This Private Member's Bill makes provision for expeditions in Antarctica to have contingency plans to deal with environmental emergencies. | |
| 10.11.2010 | Sustainable Livestock Bill. Bill 5 of 2010-11 Public Bodies (Sustainable Food) Bill. Bill 12 of 2010-11 |
| The Sustainable Livestock Bill aims to reduce the environmental impacts of livestock production in the UK. It also aims to amend the way agricultural subsidies are used to make them more environmentally friendly. It includes a duty to give consideration to supporting sustainable practices and consumption through public procurement of livestock produce. The Public Bodies (Sustainable Food) Bill would create a duty on the Secretary of State to prepare a Code for Sustainable Food to promote the procurement of healthy and sustainable food by public bodies. This could be made compulsory if uptake was not extensive enough. | |
| 16.06.2009 | Marine and Coastal Access Bill [HL] |
| The Bill covers a broad range of marine issues and would: (1) set up a new Marine Management Organisation (MMO) under which many of the existing, diverse areas of marine regulation would be centralised; (2) streamline the existing marine licensing system and provide powers to create a joined up marine planning policy; (3) introduce new measures to reform fisheries management; (4) provide a framework for establishing marine conservation zones; and, (5) enable the creation of a route around the English coast. | |
| 22.10.2008 | Climate Change Bill [HL]: Committee Stage Report |
| Climate Change Bill. (Bill 129 of 2007/08) House of Commons Library Research Paper 08/79. |
Select Committee Reports
| Date | Description |
|---|---|
| 14.09.2011 | The impact of UK overseas aid on environmental protection and climate change adaptation and mitigation.... |
| Government response. Environmental Audit Select Committee; Department for International Development report [Commons] | |
| 13.07.2011 | Green Investment Bank. |
| Government response. Environmental Audit Select Committee; Treasury report [Commons] | |
| 13.07.2011 | Joint Nature Conservation Committee and JNCC Support Co. |
| Joint Nature Conservation Committee report [Commons] | |
| 22.06.2011 | The impact of UK overseas aid on environmental protection and climate change adaptation and mitigation.... |
| Environmental Audit Select Committee report [Commons] | |
| 18.05.2011 | Embedding sustainable development: the Government's response. |
| Government response. Environmental Audit Select Committee report [Commons] |
Early Day Motions
| Date | Description |
|---|---|
| 19.07.2011 | EVERY CHILD OUTDOORS CAMPAIGN |
| That this House recognises the importance of children having regular contact with the natural environment; congratulates the RSPB for its Every Child Outdoors research, which highlights ... | |
| 16.06.2011 | NEW GENERATION BIOFUELS |
| That this House acknowledges that advanced biofuel technologies could play a vital role in reducing carbon emissions, providing energy security for the UK, managing waste and creating ... | |
| 14.06.2011 | POLICY ON BIOFUELS AND THEIR EFFECTS |
| That this House welcomes the recent announcements from the Government regarding biofuels, but continues to have concerns over the negative impacts of current biofuels on people, food ... | |
| 24.05.2011 | LEGISLATION ON ILLEGAL TIMBER |
| That this House is dismayed that, despite the statement on page 17 of the Coalition Agreement that `We will introduce measures to make the import or possession of illegal timber a criminal ... | |
| 20.01.2011 | DISCARD OF MARKETABLE FISH |
| That this House congratulates Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall and Channel 4 for highlighting the wasteful discarding of marketable fish at sea; commends the Scottish fishing industry for ... |
Lords Library Notes
| Date | Description |
|---|---|
| 28.01.2013 | Antarctic Bill (HL Bill 76 of 2012-13) |
| The Antarctic Bill would implement Annex VI (the 'Liability Annex') to the Antarctic Treaty's Environmental Protocol and sets out measures to reduce risks of environmental emergencies in Antarctica. It would also make a number of changes to the Antarctic Act 1994 to give additional protection to the Antarctic environment. This Library Note provides background information in advance of the Bill's second reading in the House of Lords on 1 February 2013. | |
| 08.01.2010 | Debate on 14th January: The Copenhagen Conference on Climate Change. LLN 2010/001 |
| Debate on 14th January: The Copenhagen Conference on Climate Change. This Library Note aims to provide background reading for the debate to be held on Thursday 14th January: 'To call attention to the outcome of the Copenhagen Conference on Climate Change' The UN Conference on Climate Change took place in Copenhagen from 7th-19th December 2009. This Note explains the significance of the Conference in the context of previous international agreements on climate change, sets out the major disagreements that marred the negotiating process in Copenhagen and summarises the key elements contained in the final Copenhagen Accord. It considers analysis of the Accord's achievements and shortcomings, and summarises the reactions of key nations and interest groups. |
POST Papers
| Date | Description |
|---|---|
| 05.02.2013 | Biodiversity & Planning Decisions |
| Built developments and mineral extraction can bring social benefits. However, if developments decrease biodiversity there could be a net loss of human well-being. Planning policy is devolved and this POSTnote sets out how the information on impacts of proposed developments on biodiversity is given to planners in England. It also summarises approaches to enhance biodiversity and avoid, mitigate and compensate for negative impacts. | |
| 18.01.2013 | Biodiversity in UK Overseas Territories |
| The UK Overseas Territories (UKOTs) support a diverse variety of habitats ranging from ice fields and rocky islands to coral reef atolls and tropical forests. This POSTnote summarises the challenges to conservation management and halting biodiversity loss in UKOTs, as required under international agreements. | |
| 21.12.2012 | Plant-made Pharmaceuticals |
| The use of genetically modified (GM) plants to produce pharmaceutical drugs and vaccines is an emerging technology that offers a low-cost, large-scale alternative to current methods. This POSTnote looks at recent advances in, and the benefits of, the technology, and analyses the associated biosafety and regulatory issues. | |
| 17.09.2012 | Water Resource Resilience |
| The availability of water resources is fundamental for society and economic activities. This POSTnote describes the reasons for uncertainties in water resource availability for future supply and demand and possible responses to managing these risks in the medium term. | |
| 05.09.2012 | Balancing Nature and Agriculture |
| This POSTnote explores two approaches to managing land for balancing nature conservation with sustainable food production. Land sharing integrates the objectives of agriculture and benefits to wildlife on the same land. Land sparing on the other hand separates intensive farming areas from protected natural habitats at larger scales. | |
| 20.03.2012 | Seeking Sustainability |
| Sustainability is the long term maintenance and enhancement of human well-being within finite planetary resources. It is usually considered to have environmental, economic, and social dimensions. This POSTnote summarises issues in defining and achieving sustainability |
