A group of cross-party Peers urged the Government to integrate UK climate and nature targets into the work of the body responsible for the UK’s seabed during the second reading of the Crown Estate Bill in the House of Lords. The Bill aims to reform the Crown Estate by providing it with new powers to borrow and invest in activities which the Government says will support wider departmental objectives, such as expanding renewable offshore wind energy and port infrastructure.
The Crown Estate is an independent company which generates revenue for the Treasury from a portfolio of land and other assets around England, Wales and Northern Ireland, including 12,000km of coastline and the seabed. On the day the Bill was introduced, the Government announced a new partnership between the Crown Estate and Great British Energy which, alongside the Bill’s aims, would lead to up to 20-30GW of new offshore wind by 2030.
At second reading, many Peers cautiously welcomed the Government’s aims to allow the Crown Estate to play a greater role in national objectives but voiced reservations about whether the proposed changes would make the organisation less accountable to the government and the public.
Climate and nature themes were well-represented in the debate as Peers’ concerns focused on the effects the Bill could have on the Crown Estate’s ability to achieve its stated goals to “make a positive impact for net zero, nature and communities”. In particular, Peers suggested the Bill was an opportunity to ensure that the Crown Estate’s investment decisions would be transparent and aligned to overall delivery of the UK’s net zero and environmental targets by giving it a climate and nature duty.
Baroness Hayman, Crossbench:
“We are now getting to the stage where the detail of how we deliver the transition to clean energy really matters, and the Bill is a positive opportunity to link how the Crown Estate will achieve both delivering more renewable energy and infrastructure, while at the same time navigating the best ways to protect and enhance our natural environment.”
Lord Holmes, Conservative:
“Does the Minister agree with noble Lords’ comments that the Crown Estate could do much more in terms of biodiversity and in taking steps to help with climate adaptation, such as sea-grasses, kelp and the amount of the estate that is currently not used for those measures?”
Baroness Young of Old Scone, Labour:
“The Crown Estate is a key player in climate change mitigation but, as a major landowner and property owner, it also has a great opportunity to promote a better way forward in adaptation to the very real impacts of climate change that we are already seeing.”
Lord Teverson, Liberal Democrat
“The responsibilities of the Crown Estate—the Minister talked about them—are set out very well in its annual report, around net zero, natural resources and community. Perhaps we could look at some of those. On net zero, I really welcome the Government’s aspiration to bring forward investment, particularly in offshore wind, by preparing the case—environmental studies and all the rest of it that needs to be done beforehand.”
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