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<p>The UK is committed to taking ambitious, far-reaching action to tackle climate
change and meet net zero; this legally binding target requires the UK to bring all
greenhouse gas emissions to net zero by 2050. Defra is playing its part in contributing
to this.</p><p>The Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy leads across
Government on climate change mitigation and net zero and Defra is the Government lead
for climate change adaptation. Defra is responsible for efforts to reduce greenhouse
gas (GHG) emissions in the following sectors: agriculture, waste, land-use and fluorinated
gases (F-gases). It also has responsibility for promoting forestry in order to capture
carbon.</p><p>The ambitious 25 Year Environment Plan (25 YEP) committed to leave the
environment in a better state than we found it. Mitigating and adapting to climate
change is one of the ten goals in the 25 YEP. Actions include:</p><ul><li>The Clean
Growth Strategy and 25 YEP set out a range of specific commitments to reduce emissions
from agriculture. Defra is also looking at going further; considering ways to reduce
agricultural emissions controlled directly within the farm boundary and looking at
a broad range of measures including improvements in on-farm efficiency.</li><li>Our
manifesto set a high ambition for trees, to increase planting across the UK to 30,000
hectares per year by 2025, aligning with the Committee on Climate Change’s recommendation
to increase planting to reach net zero. In last year’s budget we announced £640 million
of funding for tree planting and peatland restoration to support these ambitions.</li><li>Peatland
restoration is a key component of the Government's Nature for Climate Fund that will
lead to the restoration of 35,000 ha of peatland over the next five years.</li><li>We
are delivering on our 2018 Resources and Waste Strategy, including plans to reduce
the amount of waste sent to landfill and the GHG emissions associated with the breakdown
of biodegradable waste.</li><li>We have committed to an 85% cut in the use of the
main type of F-gas by 2036. We have continued to cut F-gas consumption in the UK at
a faster pace than required under our international commitments, reducing levels by
over 37% since 2015.</li></ul><p>However, adapting to the inevitable changes in our
climate is also vital. Whilst we continue to reduce our contribution to climate change,
we are also taking robust action to improve the resilience of our people, economy
and environment, this includes:</p><ul><li>The second National Adaptation Programme
(NAP). This was published in 2018 and sets out how we will address priority climate
risks, as identified in the 2017 Climate Change Risk Assessment.</li><li>Adaptation
is rightly integrated throughout the policies and programmes of government. The NAP
includes actions in a broad range of areas, including the natural environment, infrastructure,
people and the built environment, business and industry, and local government.</li><li>We
engage with key national stakeholders on climate resilience, supporting organisations
reporting under the Climate Change Act's Adaptation Reporting Power. Over 90 organisations
have committed to report by the end of 2021 on actions they are taking to strengthen
preparedness for climate risks.</li><li>In November 2018 we published, with the Met
Office, a new set of UK Climate Projections 2018 (UKCP18), which include global and
regional scenarios. In September 2019 local projections were launched, which provide
locally relevant climate change information on a similar resolution to that of weather
forecast models (2.2km). The Government will make use of UKCP18 to inform its planning
and decision-making, and the Projections will also help businesses and individuals
to take action to improve resilience.</li></ul>
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