Make climate impact assessment mandatory for all new legislation

Every piece of legislation that passes through Parliament has a financial impact assessment. It does not, as standard, have a climate impact assessment. This is an extraordinary omission given that climate change is the single issue most likely to affect every person in this country within the next thirty years regardless of their politics, income, or postcode.

I would propose a statutory requirement that all new primary and secondary legislation be accompanied by an independent climate impact assessment, modelled on the existing equality impact assessment framework. This would not give anyone a veto. It would simply ensure that the climate consequences of policy decisions are visible, documented, and part of the public record.

The objection that this would slow down legislation is not serious. We already assess financial impact, equality impact, and regulatory burden. Adding climate to that list is a question of political will, not administrative capacity. And the cost of not doing it is measured in flood damage, crop failure, and lives.