The government has committed to delivering net zero by 2050 – but how on track are we and what needs to change in UK food and farming? Chris Skidmore’s Mission Zero; Independent Review of Net Zero, published in January, helped reassert the case for the transition to a net zero UK by 2050. But it reports that current plans for decarbonising agriculture are “completely missing or wholly inadequate” (p.173) and that agriculture’s share of total greenhouse emissions is likely to grow. 

In this webinar, Dustin Benton, policy director at Green Alliance talks about his recent report, Shaping UK land use: priorities for food, nature and climate, and its proposals for a pathway towards net zero for the land and agri-food system. 

Dustin covers:

• What did the Skidmore review say, and where might government policy go from here? 
• The big picture – is the UK living up to its carbon budget? 
• Where do our food and farming emissions need to be to achieve net zero by 2050?
• Under what scenarios could we achieve this? 
• What are the difficulties and trade-offs of these scenarios? 
• Key sticking points going forwards – what needs to happen now? 

About Dustin:

Dustin is policy director at Green Alliance, an independent think tank and charity focused on accelerating UK political action on the biggest environmental issues of the day. Dustin leads Green Alliance’s work on energy, resources, and the natural environment, with a particular focus on getting on track to net zero emissions. Between 2020-21, he was seconded to Defra as chief analytical advisor to the National Food Strategy. Dustin previously worked for the Campaign to Protect Rural England where he led work on the relationship between landscape protection, climate change, and new energy infrastructure.

About the webinar series:

This webinar is part of a monthly series run by AFN Network+ which explores net zero in the UK agri-food system with leading movers and shakers. Expect deep and varied insight from across the sector, including farmers, scientists, policy analysts, community leaders, retailers, politicians, businesses and health professionals. The series is put together by Jez Fredenburgh, our Knowledge Exchange Fellow, and Prof Neil Ward, AFN Co-lead and professor of rural geography at the University of East Anglia.