The Environment Act 2021 enters into UK law

• United Kingdom

• Environment - Energy and sustainability
• ESG - Sustainable Finance
• Real estate
• Energy and infrastructure
• Industrials

15-11-2021

“The Environment Act will deliver the most ambitious environmental programme of any country on earth” - George Eustice, Environment Secretary

Following a two year passage through Parliament, the Environment Act 2021 received Royal Assent marking a new direction for environmental legislation in the UK post-Brexit.

The Act has bold ambitions to protect and improve the environment for future generations, enshrining environmental principles and a process to set legally-binding targets into law. The Act also establishes a new regulator, the Office for Environmental Protection (OEP), to uphold environmental law. The intention is that the Act will be a mechanism to clean up the country’s air, restore natural habitats, increase biodiversity, reduce waste and make better use of resources.

The Environment Act amongst other things:

-     legally establishes the OEP, this new regulator was set up on an interim basis earlier this year. The new OEP expects to be legally formed shortly and for it to be granted its functions in early 2022;

-     creates a framework for the Secretary of State to set long-term legally binding targets for each of the priority areas of air quality, biodiversity, water and resource efficiency and waste reduction;

-     seeks to halt the decline of nature (species abundance) by 2030 and provides for the grant of planning permission to be subject to a condition to secure biodiversity;

-     provides powers for the relevant national authority (Secretary of State in England) to make regulations regarding:

o    extended producer responsibility schemes including requiring obligated producers to meet product and material disposal costs;  

o    charges for single use plastic;

o    electronic tracking of waste movements;

o    banning or restricting the export of waste;

-      includes requirements for Local Authorities to tackle air quality;

-      requires sewage undertakers to publish drainage and sewage management plans; and

-      requires sewerage undertakers to ensure a progressive reduction in the adverse impact of discharges from storm overflows.

Environmental issues are increasingly the focus of media attention and greater public scrutiny. From a PR perspective it appears important that the Environment Act became law whilst the UK hosted the COP26 summit in Glasgow which has united world leaders to attempt to secure ambitious commitments to tackle climate change. It will therefore be interesting to see how the Act will be used to work toward commitments made during COP26.  

It remains to be seen whether the Act will effectively bridge the Environmental governance gap identified from Brexit and will support Government objectives such as the plan for a green industrial revolution – of building back better, supporting green jobs and accelerating our path to net zero, or whether the concerns of NGOs will be realised.

The passing of the first dedicated Environment Act in almost 30 years is clearly a landmark. However, as the Act provides a framework for targets and for further detailed legislation on a number of areas, there is still uncertainty and opportunities to influence the final legislative requirements. Businesses should be considering the extent of their obligations under the Act itself and how their operations may be impacted by the new legal obligations contemplated by it. Equally, in advance of further legal obligations businesses should be proactively considering their own environmental impact and strategies as part of ESG and PR activities. 

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