Within the Environment Bill, there was an amendment laid which said (New Clause 5 - page 646/649):
- The Secretary of State must, within the period of six months beginning with the day on which this Act is passed, publish a draft Bill on mandatory environmental and human rights due diligence which imposes a duty on specified commercial,
financial and public sector persons to - - (a) carry out due diligence in relation to all environmental and human rights risks and impacts associated with the exercise of their functions, and
- (b) identify, assess, prevent, or mitigate (where prevention is not possible) the risks so that the impacts are negligible.
The Bill Committee divided: Ayes 5, Noes 9 so the amendment was voted down.
BRC is supportive of Defra’s mandatory due diligence legislation but wants to expand the scope to include both deforestation and related human rights. We are disappointed to hear that this amendment to the Environment Bill has been voted down but will continue to press the government to include it in the future.
BRC’s final response to the consultation can be found here.