26 June 2023
Dunne welcomes requirement for financial regulators to take account of nature targets alongside net zero targets

During the debate on Lord's Amendments to the Financial Services and Markets Bill, Philip Dunne secured clarification that the Government amendments to the Lords Amendment 7 put prioritising nature on the face of the Bill in a legislatively effective manner.

Philip Dunne (Ludlow) (Con)

My hon. Friend is making a very clear exposition of the Government’s position on the Lords amendments. On replacing Lords amendment 7 with a Government amendment, will he make it clear, for the benefit of the House and the other place, that his proposal is both effective in law and will give effect to the substance of what their lordships were seeking, which is that nature should be a key responsibility under the Bill?

The Economic Secretary to the Treasury (Andrew Griffith)

I give my right hon. Friend that assurance. This is not about a different destination; the Government have a proud record of action on net zero, on nature and, as we will come on to talk about, on deforestation. This is simply the best mechanism by which we can get from here to there. It builds upon the well-defined targets set in the groundbreaking Environment Act 2021, and in so doing produces something that we think regulators can advance while giving the right clarity to those objectives.

Hansard