Mr Steen Gade,Chair, The Climate, Energy and Building Committee,Folketinget, Denmark11 February 2013Dear Mr Gade,

Protecting the Arctic

The Environmental Audit Committee, which I Chair, considers the extentto which the policies and programmes of UK Government departmentscontribute to environmental protection and sustainable development,and it audits their performance against sustainable development andenvironmental protection targets.In light of the rapid developments in the Arctic over the past year, myCommittee scrutinised the UK Government’s policies on the Arctic. Weproduced our report last year and have recently received the UKGovernment’s response to it.We highlighted how climate change is opening up the Arctic and therisks of development in the region for the environment. We called forgreater controls on oil and gas exploration and shipping, and thedesignation of an environmental sanctuary, and for the UK Governmentto use its influence in the Arctic Council to bring these about. Changes inthe Arctic will affect us all and we will all need to work together to ensurethat development in the Arctic is genuinely sustainable.Please find below links to those reports, which I hope will be of interest.Please do get in contact if you would like to discuss the report, or if youhave any suggestions for how we can work together on this agenda.

Joan Walley MP

Chair

The Committee’s report can be found here:http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm201213/cmselect/cmenvaud/171/171.pdfThe UK Government’s response to that report can be found here:http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm201213/cmselect/cmenvaud/858/858.pdf