Caroline Voaden

It is 40°C outside in some parts of the UK. We are obviously not ready for what is coming, so there could not be a better day to discuss climate change and carbon targets. The seventh carbon budget should be welcomed—it is good that the Government have accepted the Climate Change Committee’s advice—but it falls far short of what is needed. We are making good progress on renewable energy and I, for one, believe that is to be celebrated. However, I will not focus on energy because many other Members in the Chamber have done so already. Instead, I will focus on key sectors where we have seen pitiful progress, but which are absolutely central to meeting our emissions targets and making the transformational change needed to meet more ambitious, longer-term targets. This is not just about net zero; it is about making people’s lives better through lower bills, warmer homes and stronger, more sustainable communities, and it is about improving the quality of our lives as we struggle with the soaring temperatures and devastating floods—and doing so through more than just investing in renewables. First, I will talk about farming. I welcome the reopening of the sustainable farming incentive, which we heard about earlier today. But yet again, it is a first-come, first-served subsidy that will work against the smaller, poorer farmers—the ones who need it most. The bigger operations will dive in first and get that money. We need long-term sustainable incentives for long-term sustainable agricultural planning. We also need a land use framework, so that we can prioritise the most productive land for producing food and other less productive land for renewable energy. We should not be using our most productive agricultural land for solar power, but we need both and we have to have a land use framework to make that work. And yes, we also need to look at the carbon emissions from soils and peat. If we do not have healthy soils, we cannot produce food. Going back to what the shadow Minister said, perhaps she needs to think about the role of soil—