Kramer quizzes Kennedy on Climate Change Finance (Twickenham & Richmond Liberal Democrats)

Kramer quizzes Kennedy on Climate Change Finance

April 29, 2009 6:36 PM

bones • Susan Kramer: TO ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what estimate he has made of his Department's expenditure on climate change adaptation measures in 2008-09.

Jane Kennedy (Minister of State (Farming and the Environment), Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs; Liverpool, Wavertree, Labour): DEFRA delivers the 'Adapting to Climate Change Programme', which is a cross-Government programme which aims to help society adapt to climate change. The role of the programme is to develop and provide a comprehensive evidence base including adaptation tools, to raise awareness of the need to adapt, to measure success and to work across Government at all levels to embed adaptation.

Measuring adapting to climate change in expenditure does not give a full picture, it is also about encouraging behaviour change and increasing resilience to risk which does not always involve additional expenditure.

DEFRA and DECC jointly fund the Hadley Centre, we also fund the production the new UK Climate Projections, due to be launched in summer 2009.

Adapting to climate change forms parts of many areas of DEFRA's work, it is not always possible to distinguish the costs associated with adaptation. In many cases it will be the way we do something that will help us adapt, rather than a specific project. So it is not possible accurately to estimate the total amount of expenditure on adaptation measures, for example in areas such as animal health, farming and protection of the environment.

A range of other activities which DEFRA leads on will also help adapt to climate change. For example, the introduction of measures to assist communities in adapting to future risks from flooding and work arising from recommendations in the Pitt review. This comes from the central DEFRA budget so it is incorporated into a wider range of expenditure which deliver many benefits, not only on adaptation.

Richmond upon Thames Liberal Democrats: