Tag: report

Survey reveals Islamophobia is the posh person’s prejudice

A survey led by the University of Birmingham says people from middle and upper-class occupational groups are more likely to hold prejudiced views of Islam than people from working class occupational groups.

The survey, which was carried out in conjunction with YouGov, found that 23.2% of people who come from the social group ABC1 harbour prejudiced views about Islamic beliefs compared with only 18.4% of people questioned from the C2DE group.

However, when asked their views about Muslims, or most other ethnic or religious minority groups, older people, men, working class people and Conservative and Leave voters are consistently more likely to hold prejudiced views.

The survey, presented in a report titled ‘The Dinner Table Prejudice: Islamophobia in Contemporary Britain‘, interviewed a sample of 1667 people between 20th and 21st July 2021 which was weighted by age, gender, social grade, voting record, region and level of education to ensure representativeness.

Weighting was based on the census, Labour Force Survey, Office for National Statistics estimates, and other large-scale data sources.

Other key notable findings in the survey are:

  1. Muslims are the UK’s second ‘least liked’ group, after Gypsy and Irish Travellers: 25.9% of the British public feel negative towards Muslims (with 9.9% feeling ‘very negative’). This compares with 8.5% for Jewish people, 6.4% for black people, and 8.4% for white people. Only Gypsy and Irish Travellers are viewed more negatively by the British public, with 44.6% of people viewing this group negatively.
  2. More than one in four people, and nearly half of Conservative and Leave voters, hold conspiratorial views about Sharia ‘no-go areas’: 26.5% of the British public agree that ‘there are areas in Britain that operate under Sharia law where non-Muslims are not able to enter’. This increases to 43.4% among Conservative voters and Leave voters. In addition, 36.3% of British people, and a majority of Conservative voters (57.3%) and Leave voters (55.5%), also agree that ‘Islam threatens the British way of life’.
  3. Support for prohibiting all Muslim migration to the UK is 4-6% higher for Muslims than it is for other ethnic and religious groups: 18.1% of people support banning all Muslim migration to the UK (9.5% ‘strongly support’). Overall support for prohibiting Christian Migration is 13.1%, Sikh migration is 11.8% and Jewish migration is 12%.
  4. The British public is almost three times more likely to hold prejudiced views of Islam than they are of other religions: 21.1% of British people wrongly believe Islam teaches its followers that the Qur’an must be read ‘totally literally’. The figure for Islam compares with 7.5% for Judaism and the Hebrew Bible, 3.9% for Sikhism and the Guru Granth Sahib, and 4.8% for Christianity and the Bible
  5. British people are more confident in making judgements about Islam than other non-Christian religions but are much more likely to make incorrect assumptions about it: British people acknowledge their ignorance of most non-Christian religions, with a majority stating they are ‘not sure’ how Jewish (50.8%) and Sikh (62.7%) scriptures are taught. In the case of Islam, however, people feel more confident making a judgement, with only 40.7% being unsure. This is despite the fact that people are much more likely to make the incorrect assumption that Islam is ‘totally’ literalistic.

Dr Stephen H. Jones from the University of Birmingham and lead author of the survey says: “Prejudice towards Islam and Muslims stands out in the UK, not only because it is much more widespread than most forms of racism, but also because prejudice toward Islam is more common among those who are wealthier and well-educated.”

The survey also has made specific recommendations to scale back the rise of Islamophobia:

  • Government and other public figures should publicly acknowledge and address the lack of public criticism that Islamophobic discourses and practices trigger, and how Islamophobia stands out compared with other forms of racism and prejudice.
  • Civil society organisations and equality bodies concerned with prejudice and discrimination should acknowledge that systemic miseducation about Islam is common in British society and forms an important element of Islamophobia.
  • Educators should provide clear guidance clarifying when tropes about the Islamic tradition move from acceptable criticism to become harmful.
  • Civil society organisations should introduce religious literacy as a component part of any large-scale equality and diversity campaign or policy initiative.
  • The BBC and other broadcasters should maintain their commitments to religion programming, but with renewed emphasis on combatting intolerance.

Commenting on the recommendations Dr Stephen H. Jones says: “No-one is calling for laws regulating criticism of religion, but we have to recognise that the British public has been systematically miseducated about Islamic tradition and take steps to remedy this.”

New report highlights poverty target challenges

The Fraser of Allander Institute has tday published a new report, jointly authored with @MMUPolicyEval & @PovertyAlliance, that explores some of the challenges and opportunities that the Scottish Government faces in meeting its Child Poverty Targets:

Around 1 in 4 children in Scotland live in relative poverty. This means they live in a
household with an income 60% below the UK median income after housing costs
have been deducted.

Child poverty can have serious and lifelong impacts across a range of outcomes,
and the Scottish Government have stated their aim to reduce significantly the
incidence of child poverty. The Child Poverty (Scotland) Act 20172 includes a target
to reduce relative child poverty to 10% by 2030/31.

Meeting this target would represent an unprecedented reduction in child poverty to levels not seen in Scotland certainly since the early 1990s when the current statistical series began.

The purpose of the analysis in this report is to look at some of the large, national level, devolved policy levers that the Scottish Government could use to meet the
targets. We have focussed on childcare, employability programmes and social
security.

By analysing variations of these types of policies, and different combinations, this
analysis illustrates the scale of the impact on poverty and the associated costs and
benefits of different options.

We envisage that this will be helpful for policymakers and stakeholders who will be focused on developing actions for the next Tackling Child Poverty Delivery plan, due to be published by the Scottish Government by the end of March 2022.

Download a summary here.

Democracy in Danger?

New Carnegie UK report: GDWe: A spotlight on democratic wellbeing

Carnegie UK has published a new report GDWe: A spotlight on democratic wellbeing, research and polling which shows that democratic wellbeing in England is under severe threat.

This research was conducted by YouGov polling between 12th – 13th December 2021, which coincided with a heightened focus on levels of trust in government. The results are stark:

●      2 in 5 people in England (41%) now say that democracy is not working. People see the biggest current threat to our democracy as a loss of trust (32%) followed by corruption (16%).

●      76% of the public in England don’t trust MPs, while 73% don’t trust the UK Government.

This report builds on Carnegie UK’s work on Gross Domestic Wellbeing (GDWe) – a holistic alternative to GDP as a measure of collective wellbeing. We use data from the Office of National Statistics (ONS) Wellbeing Dashboard to calculate GDWe.

However this national wellbeing dataset underrepresents the importance of democratic wellbeing, with only 2 indicators out of 41 measuring this aspect of our lives. 

At Carnegie UK, when we talk about democratic wellbeing we are referring to the extent to which we all – collectively – have a voice in decisions that affect us. Wellbeing cannot be ‘done to’ people, it has to be done by and with them.

Yet, in order for people to feel positive about participating in democratic processes and decision making, it is essential to have public trust in government at all levels.

GDWe: A spotlight on democratic wellbeing found that in addition to a loss of trust there are also issues with current levels of participation in decision-making; misinformation, and misalignment with commonly held public values.

Other aspects that help make up democratic wellbeing, such as involvement in public participation and citizen engagement, are also poorly measured in the UK.

This report calls on government to invest in democratic wellbeing by increasing participatory democracy and improving transparency, as well as focusing on measures of national success in keeping with people’s priorities, rather than relying solely on economic measures.

The full report is available here and you can add to the debate on Twitter using the hashtag #GDWe

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Almost half a million explicitly antisemitic tweets per year

The Woolf Institute estimate there to be nearly two antisemitic tweets for every Jewish person in the UK

Analysis of data by the Woolf Institute, a global leader on interfaith relations, is presented in a new report by the Antisemitism Policy Trust and the Community Security Trust, which marks the end of an 18-month research programme to study the extent and nature of antisemitism online.

The report presents an estimate of the level of antisemitism on Twitter in the UK and based on research methods used, Woolf Institute analysis concludes there are between 100 and 1,350 explicitly antisemitic tweets every day in the UK. 

The findings estimate that there are up to 495,000 explicitly antisemitic tweets per year made viewable for UK users (tweets in English by and available to UK users). Given the size of the UK’s Jewish population at around 290,000 people, the report calculates there to be nearly two antisemitic tweets annually for every Jewish person in the UK. 

The Antisemitism Policy Trust, supported by the Community Security Trust, commissioned the Woolf Institute to explore anti-Jewish hatred on Google, Instagram and Twitter, and this publication represents the third and final instalment of that project.

The two previous reports found that Google’s public facing Safesearch facility has no impact on the amount of antisemitic content that is returned when people search for jokes about Jews.

Antisemitism is also extensive on Instagram, associated with a “chaotic” trolling phenomenon on the platform, and demonstrates strong links to conspiracy theories and anti-Israel attitudes. 

Danny Stone MBE, Chief Executive, Antisemitism Policy Trust, says: “Policies to deal with online abuse aren’t worth the paper they’re written on if companies cannot effectively enforce them.

“This new report makes it crystal clear that Twitter’s systems for discovering and acting against anti-Jewish racism still aren’t good enough. As the Government considers new internet safety laws, I hope this report will weigh heavily on Minister’s minds.”

Dr. Dave Rich, Director of Policy, Community Security Trust, says: “It has long been known that social media is the engine of modern antisemitism, and it increasingly features in the antisemitic incidents that are reported to CST.

“This new research not only demonstrates how widespread this is, but also shows exactly how the social media companies are failing to control the problem of anti-Jewish hatred on their platforms.”

Commenting on the overall findings, Dr Julian Hargreaves, Director of Research at the Woolf Institute, who has led the project, said: “Taken together, this series identifies and underlines that antisemitism persists on major social media platforms, and that either the tools for addressing it are not fit-for-purpose, or the public policies professed by the world’s leading social media giants are at best, poorly enforced and at worst, are completely ineffectual.

“Our reports identify that the systems – be they Safesearch, algorithms, or automated moderation are not doing their job. If antisemitism online and within our societies is to be effectively tackled and reduced, we will need platforms, in this instance acting as agents of harm, to better understand and to act upon what the evidence is clearly telling them.”

Using social media data analysis tools, the team were able to identify biographical and geographical characteristics of Twitter users posting tweets which matched the antisemitism research terms. 

The top 10 geographical locations were London, Manchester, Redcar, Liverpool, Glasgow, Brighton, north-west Leicestershire, Oxford, Birmingham, and Edinburgh.

APT-Twitter-Report-2021-Draft-3Download

The full report on Twitter is available at https://antisemitism.org.uk/research-reports/

The Google and Instagram reports are available at: https://antisemitism.org.uk/research-reports/

For more information on the Woolf Institute visit: https://www.woolf.cam.ac.uk

For information about the Antisemitism Policy Trust visit: https://antisemitism.org.uk

For information about the Community Security Trust visit https://cst.org.uk

Living Through a Pandemic: Report calls for local action to tackle poverty

The Covid-19 pandemic has “intensified” the poverty experienced by low income families across Scotland, according to a report published by the Poverty Alliance. It calls for increased action in order for Scotland to meet its 2030 child poverty targets. 

The report, published by the Poverty Alliance as part of its Get Heard Scotland project, is based on interviews with 32 low-income families from Renfrewshire and Inverclyde, which explored their experiences during the pandemic. 

It found that Covid-19 had intensified their challenges, with lone parents, Black and minority ethnic families, and families with a disabled parent or child the most impacted. 

Particular issues that the report highlights include:

  • The mental health impact of living on a low income through the pandemic, with the loss of support networks and the loss of childcare and schooling having a significant impact
  • The precariousness of incomes through the pandemic, with an increased reliance on crisis support
  • The prevalence of insecure employment, with structural discrimination against Black and minority ethnic communities and disabled people being highlighted
  • The importance of access to good community spaces and infrastructure, including green spaces

Digital exclusion was also a key issue, with participants needing digital access for leisure, shopping and reducing isolation. But despite the research exploring the negative impacts of the lack of digital access, it also highlights the importance of robust non digital alternatives. It calls on service providers to continue investing in face-to-face support for their clients to ensure everyone can access the help they need.

Recommendations made by the report in order to better support people living on low incomes include:

  • Increasing investment in mental health services, including addressing stigma through targeted local activity
  • Undertaking more action to increase the number of workers receiving the real Living Wage, as well as ensuring employability services work for everyone regardless of age, gender, race or other characteristics
  • Ensuring that income adequacy is central to the development of Scottish social security, and doing more to promote people’s awareness of their social security entitlements
  • Increasing support for community groups and local anchor organisations

Peter Kelly, Director, Poverty Alliance says: “Through our Get Heard Scotland programme we heard about some amazing efforts made by community organisations and local public services to make sure people were supported during the pandemic.

“Groups and local authorities worked together to get help to those who needed it. But the reality that we found is that despite these efforts many people felt their experience of poverty deepen during the pandemic.  

 “The Scottish Government have set themselves ambitious targets on tackling child poverty. This report demonstrates, through the experiences of people living on low incomes, how much work is still required if they are to meet them. Communities across Scotland are held back by the grip of poverty , with the report highlighting the particular challenges communities in Renfrewshire and Inverclyde face. 

“It is vital that policy-makers at every level – particularly local authorities and the Scottish Government – listen to and act on the voices of people experiencing poverty. To help do that, they must also place those voices at the heart of their decision-making processes.” 

Laura Robertson, Research Officer, Poverty Alliance: “Covid-19 has not only tightened the grip of poverty on the lives of many children and young people, but has also exacerbated these inequalities. 

“We hope that this report can be a call to action, with its recommendations acting as a blueprint on how we can redesign our society to tackle hardship and create a more just Scotland.” 

Read the full report

Report highlights extensive economic benefits of tackling climate crisis across the UK

A new report has highlighted the extensive benefits to the UK economy if immediate action is taken by local authorities to address the climate crisis.

The research was led by the Centre for Sustainability, Equality and Climate Action at Queen’s University Belfast and the Place-Based Climate Action Network for UK100.

A key finding from the report is that investment in climate action at the local level would see over 800,000 green jobs created across the UK by 2030, rising to 1.38 million total jobs by 2050.

It also found that for every £1 invested in climate mitigation and protecting communities from the impacts of extreme weather events, a further £9 is saved.

It offers cross-sector insight into how investment in local climate action can lead to tangible emission reduction, but can also create good quality green jobs, economic opportunities, important social co-benefits and level up areas across the UK as we seek to recover from the COVID-19 pandemic. It presents a clear evidence base that highlight not only is Net Zero transformation possible, but also that the costs of inaction are immense.

Importantly, it considers these benefits in the context of rebuilding after the COVID-19 pandemic and the impacts the public health emergency has had on local authorities, their finances, and local economies across the UK.

John Barry, Professor of Green Political Economy at Queen’s University and lead researcher on the report, said: “It is in the very difficult context of COVID-19 that local authorities must consider the meaningful, lasting and interrelated benefits of decarbonising across all sectors, confronting the climate crisis, and harnessing the economic opportunities of local climate action.

“Fortunately, this economic shift can unlock correspondingly significant social and economic benefits for our society.

“If done correctly, and in the time frame suggested by climate science, we can not only avoid the worst consequences of climate change but capitalise on the huge economic and other co-benefits of urgent transformative climate action at scale.

“Our report clearly shows that ‘building back better’ from the pandemic is to green and climate proof our societies and local economies.”

Among the strongest economic cases within the report for UK local authorities to invest in climate mitigation and adaptation is avoiding the rising costs of climate impacts.

The report highlights the estimated annual cost of floods in the UK has reached £340 million, and is expected to rise to £428 million if global temperatures rise by 2°C, reaching £619 million if post-industrial warming reaches 4°C.

Seán Fearon, co-author of the report and researcher at Queen’s, added: “A primary aim of this report was an attempt to change the perception of climate action among local authorities as a ‘cost’ or as an unaffordable ‘burden’.

“In fact, tackling the climate crisis through our councils can be the main vehicle for meaningful and positive change in our communities, creating a healthier and more inclusive society, and more democratic local economies which prioritise decent jobs and environmental wellbeing.”

Professor Ian Greer, President and Vice-Chancellor of Queen’s, concluded: “Queen’s is a world leader in research, and we know that by enabling our talent to develop solutions we can have a very real impact in creating a sustainable future for all.

“That’s why we’ve recently made a multi-million-pound investment in a new sustainability action plan to help play our part in tackling the global climate emergency.”

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Progress Review reports improvement to older people’s services in Edinburgh

Delivery of older people’s services in Edinburgh has shown good progress since 2017, according to a joint report published by the Care Inspectorate and Health Improvement Scotland.

Following an initial inspection in May 2017, the Edinburgh Health and Social Care Partnership has received acknowledgement from the Joint Inspection team across the Care Inspectorate and Health Improvement Scotland, that the review has now closed.

The latest report cites the partnerships efforts in driving forward – with pace – a clear vision and structured approach, that is now seeing positive progress in a number of areas.   

It follows a challenging progress review in 2018 and contains a number of recommendations but, based on progress, the Joint Inspection team has noted that no further review activity is now planned.  

Chair of the Edinburgh Integration Joint Board, Cllr Ricky Henderson, said: “We very much welcome this latest and final review, and the deserved recognition it gives all who work for, and with the partnership.

“The publication of the report in 2017, was a difficult read for all who were working in the Partnership at the time but the strategic vision, practices, and structures that have since been developed and implemented, are the backbone to the significant and good progress being made.

“Whilst there remain challenges – particularly with the current system pressures faced – the strengthened relationships built, strategic aims, and the cohesive approach to the work of the partnership, deserve this positive recognition.

“These are significant strengths for how the partnership will continue to push forward over the challenging winter period and beyond, and I would like to take the opportunity to thank every single person who directly or indirectly provides care in Edinburgh, for their incredible hard work and commitment to all in our care.”

Read the report:

Edinburgh-older-people-services-progress-review-Nov-Download

Adapt or Die, warns Environment Agency

The climate emergency can only be successfully tackled through greater focus on adapting to the inevitable climate impacts that we are already seeing, the Environment Agency has warned today (13 October) as it urged world leaders to step up to that challenge at COP26.

In a report to the UK Government, the agency has warned of more extreme weather leading to increased flooding and drought, sea level rises of up to 78cm by the 2080s, and public water supplies needing more than 3.4 billion extra litres of water per day by 2050. It has urged governments, businesses and society to embrace and invest in adaptation, rather than living with the costs of inaction.

With COP26 less than three weeks away, it has welcomed the UK Government’s focus on adaptation as well as mitigation, and the fact that climate adaptation is one of the Summit’s four key goals, but urged that more action is needed at a global level to protect the billions of lives and livelihoods that are at risk.

Emma Howard Boyd, Chair of the Environment Agency, said: “The climate crisis is global, but its impacts are in your village, your shop, your home. Adaptation action needs to be integral to government, businesses and communities too and people will soon question why it isn’t – especially when it is much cheaper to invest early in climate resilience than to live with the costs of inaction.

“While mitigation might save the planet, it is adaptation, preparing for climate shocks, that will save millions of lives. Choosing one over the other on the basis of a simple either/or calculation is like telling a bird it only needs one wing to fly.

“With that in mind, it is deeply worrying that adaptation is in danger of being grievously undercooked at COP26. Not by the UK Government, but by the world at large.

“Significant climate impacts are inevitable. We can successfully tackle the climate emergency if we do the right things, but we are running out of time to implement effective adaptation measures. Our thinking must change faster than the climate.

“Some 200 people died in this summer’s flooding in Germany. That will happen in this country sooner or later, however high we build our flood defences, unless we also make the places where we live, work and travel resilient to the effects of the more violent weather the climate emergency is bringing.

“It is adapt or die. With the right approach we can be safer and more prosperous. So let’s prepare, act and survive.”

The message comes in the Environment Agency’s third adaptation report, submitted to the UK government under the Climate Change Act.

Even with a 2°C temperature rise compared to pre-industrial levels, key projections within the report include:

  • Winter rainfall is expected to increase by approximately 6% by the 2050s and by 8% by the 2080s, compared to a 1981-2000 baseline.
  • Summer rainfall is expected to decrease by approximately 15% by the 2050s compared to a 1981-2000 baseline.
  • London’s sea level is expected to rise by between approximately 23cm by the 2050s and 45cm by the 2080s.
  • River flows will be more extreme. Peak flows are expected to be up to 27% higher in the 2050s, while in the summer months river flows could be 82% lower by as soon as 2050.
  • Public water supplies are expected to require more than 3.4 billion extra litres of water per day if no action is taken before 2050.

Baroness Brown of Cambridge, Chair of the CCC’s Adaptation Committee, said: “We’re pleased to see the Environment Agency publishing its latest climate change adaptation plan.

“This road map will be vital to ensuring our natural and built environments are well adapted to the significant changes in our climate taking place today, with more to come.

We urge all Government agencies, authorities, regulators and businesses big and small to get their adaptation plans together before the deadline on 31 December.

“We look forward to assessing the EA’s plan in early 2022 as part of our independent appraisal for Government of similar plans from across the public and private sectors.

The report also sets out five climate “reality checks” to make the case for urgent action on adaptation:

  1. The Environment Agency alone cannot protect everyone from increasing flood and coastal risks: rising sea levels and extreme winter rainfall will mean it will not be technically, socially, and economically viable to protect every community. Instead, alongside constructing and maintaining defences, we must help communities learn to live with risk, minimise damage, and return to normal life quickly.
  2. Climate change makes it harder to ensure clean and plentiful water: existing issues with water stress will be exacerbated by climate change bringing altered temperature and rainfall patterns. Measures to tackle these pressures are underway, but a strategic approach to water management and faster progress on improvements are needed.
  3. Environmental regulation is not yet ready for a changing climate: climate change is increasing the impact of environmental incidents, for example lower river levels means pollutants diffuse slower and have a greater impact. It is vital that environmental policy and legislation keeps pace with the escalating challenge to allow us and other regulators to protect the environment.
  4. Ecosystems cannot adapt as fast as the climate is changing: industrialisation and urbanisation have left the UK as one of the most nature-depleted countries in the world, and climate change means wildlife in England will continue to be altered. We must recognise importance of natural ecosystems in supporting life (including our own) in our health and wellbeing. Nature must be the essential foundation of development, rather than being seen as an impediment.
  5. There will be more and worse environmental incidents: both natural and man-made environmental incidents will be made worse by climate change. This will place an increased burden on emergency response, and divert resources from other activities.
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The report highlights how the Environment Agency is working with government, businesses and communities to prepare for the impacts of climate change, including delivering a record £5.2 billion programme of new flood and coastal defences over the next six years.

While the risks are serious, they can be addressed by early action, and the report also sets out how the Environment Agency is meeting those challenges.

This includes:

  • Working with government, businesses and communities to implement the Flood and Coastal Erosion Risk Management (FCERM) Strategy and our vision to create a nation ready for and resilient to flooding and coastal change up to 2100.
  • Working with water companies and Ofwat on the National Framework for Water Resources, which sets out how we will address future challenges to water supply.
  • Helping to deliver the £10 million Natural Environment Readiness Fund, helping to support projects in attracting private sector finance into investment in the natural environment.
  • Focusing on nature based approaches, restoring and creating peatlands, wetland and other habitats to create climate-resilient habitats for wildlife, reduce flood risk, improve water quality and improve access to greenspace for people
  • Using our role as a regulator to help businesses understand and reduce their climate impact and prepare for the future.

UK Coronavirus response: “some big achievements with some big mistakes”

MPs publish Coronavirus: Lessons Learned To Date report

Covid vaccine programme “one of most effective initiatives in UK history” but delay to first lockdown a “serious error” that should have been challenged

The House of Commons and Science and Technology Committee and Health and Social Care Committee have published their Report, Coronavirus: lessons learned to date, examining the initial UK response to the covid pandemic.

The 150-page Report contains 38 recommendations to the Government and public bodies, and draws on evidence from over 50 witnesses—including Rt Hon Matt Hancock MP, Professor Chris Whitty, Sir Patrick Vallance, Sir Simon Stevens, Dame Kate Bingham, Baroness Harding of Winscombe and Dominic Cummings—as well as over 400 written submissions.

The Report was agreed unanimously by members of both Select Committees, which consist of 22 MPs from three political parties—Conservative, Labour and SNP.

The joint inquiry, which began in October 2020, examined six key areas of the response to covid-19: the country’s preparedness for a pandemic; the use of non-pharmaceutical interventions such as border controls, social distancing and lockdowns to control the pandemic; the use of test, trace and isolate strategies; the impact of the pandemic on social care; the impact of the pandemic on specific communities; and the procurement and roll-out of covid-19 vaccines.

The inquiry concluded that some initiatives were examples of global best practice but others represented mistakes. Both must be reflected on to ensure that lessons are applied to better inform future responses to emergencies.

In particular:

  • The forward-planning, agility and decisive organisation of the vaccine development and deployment effort will save millions of lives globally and should be a guide to future Government practice;
  • The delays in establishing an adequate test, trace and isolate system hampered efforts to understand and contain the outbreak and it failed in its stated purpose to avoid lockdowns;
  • The initial decision to delay a comprehensive lockdown—despite practice elsewhere in the world—reflected a fatalism about the spread of covid that should have been robustly challenged at the time;
  • Social care was not given sufficient priority in the early stages of the pandemic;
  • The experience of the covid pandemic underlines the need for an urgent and long term strategy to tackle health inequalities; and
  • The UK’s preparedness for a pandemic had been widely acclaimed in advance, but performed less well than many other countries in practice.

The 38 recommendations made, if implemented by the Government and by public bodies such as the NHS, would ensure that during the remaining period of the pandemic and in any new emergency, the UK could perform better by having distilled lessons—positive and negative—from the UK’s initial response to covid.

In a joint statement on the publication of the Coronavirus: lessons learned to date Report, Rt Hon Jeremy Hunt MP, Chair of the Health and Social Care Committee, and Rt Hon Greg Clark MP, Chair of the Science and Technology Committee, said:  “The UK response has combined some big achievements with some big mistakes. It is vital to learn from both to ensure that we perform as best as we possibly can during the remainder of the pandemic and in the future. 

“Our vaccine programme was boldly planned and effectively executed. Our test and trace programme took too long to become effective. The Government took seriously scientific advice but there should have been more challenge from all to the early UK consensus that delayed a more comprehensive lockdown when countries like South Korea showed a different approach was possible.

“In responding to an emergency, when much is unknown, it is impossible to get everything right. We record our gratitude to all those—NHS and care workers, scientists, officials in national and local government, workers in our public services and in private businesses and millions of volunteers—who responded to the challenge with dedication, compassion and hard work to help the whole nation at one of our darkest times.” 

The Report includes an Executive Summary with conclusions, recommendations and lessons learned at the end of each Chapter. 

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Food and Drink Greenhouse Gas emissions must be a key priority for COP26, says WRAP

  • Most comprehensive mapping of the UK’s food & drink carbon footprint ever shows pathway to 50% carbon reduction.
  • Equivalent to 35% of the UK’s total emissions arise from producing and eating the country’s food & drink, including emissions overseas for imported food.
  • Action on food systems by policymakers and the sector is fundamental to delivering the UK’s Net Zero ambitions and reducing our wider global footprint – food & drink is the hidden hero, says WRAP.
  • UK work on GHG emissions could be the blueprint for international action.

The most comprehensive analysis of greenhouse gas emissions (GHG) linked to UK food & drink production and consumption ever undertaken shows the urgent need to slash the carbon footprint of food if we are to achieve the UK’s Net Zero ambitions.

It also shows the need to consider the full, global, footprint of the food & drink we consume, if we are to avoid reducing our own emissions at the expense of increasing emissions in other countries.

The report, UK Food System GHG Emissions, estimates that the UK food system was responsible for nearly 160 MtCO2e emissions in the UK and overseas in 2019 – equivalent to around 35% of UK territorial emissions*.

This landmark mapping was made possible by the development of a new Food System GHG model to pinpoint carbon hotspots across the food system and investigate the reductions possible through different types of action.

The ground-breaking work shows that a 50% reduction in food-related emissions by 2030 (in line with a 1.5oC trajectory) is possible, but only if we take urgent action.

The findings come at a key time as world leaders gather next month for the crucial COP26 meeting in Glasgow, to accelerate action towards the goals of the Paris Agreement and the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change.

The report’s author, the UK’s environmental charity WRAP, is now urging politicians from around the world to consider the contribution food and drink makes to climate change and put food system emissions on the table at talks in Glasgow.

Marcus Gover, WRAP CEO said, “Much attention will rightly be paid to energy generation and transport at COP26, but we ignore the food system at our peril.

“There is little talk about the contribution that strategies around food and drink can have to climate action, and it is vital we raise awareness and drive action among policymakers and businesses at COP26. That is why WRAP has set out the tangible reductions that can be made simply by focussing on food and drink as key part of climate action.

“A 50% reduction by 2030 is possible, but we need action as much as talk. And the benefits go far beyond the environment as a more sustainable food system is crucial to feed our expanding global population against a backdrop of changing climate and less predictable weather patterns. Policymakers must pay attention to the critical role food has in helping deliver Net Zero, and I intend to have those conversations at COP.”

The food system is a global network requiring a worldwide perspective. GHG emissions associated with overseas production of food & drink imported, sold and consumed in the UK are more than one third of the UK’s food and drink consumption footprint.

WRAP’s work details this connectivity to imported food and outlines the need for widescale action to prevent the positive actions by one nation inadvertently increasing emissions in another.

WRAP held a  special briefing in partnership with the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and the World Resources Institute last week to outline how a Net Zero food system can benefit the planet, and its inhabitants.

It highlighted the scale of GHG emissions reductions that could come from different types of interventions across the food system such as zero deforestation, decarbonising energy, decarbonising transport and preventing food waste. With five key actions for UK industry.

These actions will help meet environmental goals such as the UK’s Courtauld Commitment 2030 GHG target (50% absolute reduction in emissions associated with food and drink consumed by 2030 from 2015).

The Courtauld 2030 target is aligned to a 1.5oC pathway and has become a crucial milestone to meeting wider food sector targets for Net Zero by 2040, including those managed by the British Retail Consortium (BRC) and Food & Drink Federation (FDF).

DR Liz Goodwin, OBE, said: “This report is a useful reminder of the scale of the challenge faced by countries aiming to achieve Net Zero targets and the important role that reducing food loss and waste can play.

“It comes after the UN Food Systems Summit which clearly highlighted the importance of tackling food loss and waste as part of moving to a more sustainable food system. The Champions 12.3 coalition continues to urge action by all players; governments, businesses and civil society, so that we continue to build momentum in reducing food loss and waste and deliver UN SDG 12.3”.  

WRAP’s work allows for a full investigation of the implications of actions across the whole food system, to aid policy decisions and focus action by businesses.

The Food System GHG model has been designed to help quantify the scale of potential emissions reduction that could be achieved through a range of actions aligned to existing commitments, such as renewable energy targets, zero deforestation commitments and targets to halve food waste. 

The model provides a robust means of monitoring the UK’s total food system emissions (including both domestic production and imports), which is an important metric highlighted in the National Food Strategy.  Monitoring progress over time will ensure actions taken are having the right effect.

WRAP believes the model could be replicated in other countries.

As well as the most comprehensive mapping of GHG food emissions to date, WRAP’s report also highlights where food system emissions arose and details the changes between 2015-2019, during which time an 8% reduction was achieved by the UK. It builds on the National Food Strategy and recent Courtauld 2030 progress report, both of which highlighted the significance of the food system for both territorial emissions and our wider global footprint.

Crucially, the report highlights a pathway to achieving a 50% reduction in the GHG emissions linked to production and consumption of food and drink in the UK. This can be achieved mainly by ensuring that existing policy, business and sector-level commitments and targets are delivered.

But warns WRAP, they must be delivered at pace.