Written questions by Ribeiro-Addy.

Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment he has made of the emissions reductions required in agriculture to deliver the sixth carbon budge.

The Government is absolutely committed to our net zero targets. We will publish an updated Carbon Budget Delivery Plan that sets out the policy package out to the end of Carbon Budget 6 in 2037 for all the sectors in due course. This will outline the policies and proposals needed to deliver Carbon Budgets 4-6 and our Nationally Determined Contribution commitments on a pathway to net zero.

Food and Rural Affairs, what steps he is taking to financially support low carbon farming.

The Government is committed to our net zero ambitions and boosting nature’s recovery, which are the foundations of a productive and profitable farming sector. Our Environmental Land Management schemes (ELMs) pay farmers to take up land management practices that contribute to reducing greenhouse gas emissions. The farming budget will be £2.4 billion in 2025/26, which includes the largest ever budget directed at sustainable food production and nature’s recovery in our country’s history: £1.8 billion for ELMs to boost Britain’s food security and accelerate the transition to a more resilient and sustainable farming sector. The Government has spent £51.8 million through the Farming Innovation Programme (FIP), with a further £98 million committed to ongoing projects in support of Agri-technology research and innovation. Many FIP projects support low carbon farming practices. FIP competitions for 2025/26 will include up to £12.5 million for the Net Zero Farming thematic competition. Since 2021, Defra’s Farming Investment Fund awarded more than 11,000 grants worth over £130 million to farmers, growers and foresters to invest in technology, equipment and infrastructure, much of which supports low carbon farming practices. Of this, £107 million was through the Farming Equipment and Technology Fund (FETF). The next window of FETF will launch in Spring 2025.

Food and Rural Affairs, what steps his Department is taking to ensure that the conservation projects it funds in (a) Africa and (b) Asia do not lead to (i) forced evictions and (ii) violent abuses of Indigenous peoples.

Defra aims to take a do no harm approach to aid programming. Official development assistance (ODA) projects are required to undertake risk management and due diligence assessments in order to understand and mitigate programmatic risks, including understanding IPLC programming risks.

Food and Rural Affairs, what discussions he has had with Cabinet colleagues on the environmental impact of running artificial intelligence technologies.

The Secretary of State has regular discussions with Cabinet colleagues on a range of issues. The AI (artificial intelligence) Opportunities Action Plan sets out how we will achieve our AI ambitions by laying the foundations for growth, driving adoption and building UK capabilities.  We recognise that data centres face sustainability challenges, from energy demands to water use. Through the AI Energy Council, we will be exploring bold, clean energy solutions from next-generation renewables to small modular reactors to ensure our AI ambitions align with the UK’s net zero goals. This builds on the Department of Science, Innovation & Technology’s contribution to make Britain a clean energy superpower by investing in relevant research on clean energy and climate change.

Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment he has made of the potential impact of costs associated with extended producer responsibility on small businesses.

We have made a full assessment of the impacts that implementing packaging extended producer responsibility will have. This includes assessment of the impacts on small businesses, which can be found in Section 8 of the impact assessment: The Producer Respo...