Laws to drive nature's recovery

Those legally binding environmental targets were set on December 16th, 2022 through secondary legislation. The targets require the Government to:

Halt the decline in species populations by 2030, and then increase populations by at least 10% to exceed current levels by 2042

Restore precious water bodies to their natural state by cracking down on harmful pollution from sewers and abandoned mines and improving water usage in households

Assist with the delivery our net-zero ambitions and boost nature recovery by increasing tree and woodland cover to 16.5% of total land area in England by 2050

Halve the waste per person that is sent to residual treatment by 2042

Cut exposure to the most harmful air pollutant to human health – PM2.5

Restore 70% of designated features in our Marine Protected Areas to a favourable condition by 2042, with the rest in a recovering condition. 

The Environment Act also created a new environmental watchdog for England, Northern Ireland with the following duties and functions: 

Scrutinising the Government’s Environmental Improvement Plan and targets 

Scrutinising both the implementation and effectiveness of Environmental Law; 

Advising government on environmental law; and 

Enforcing against failures to comply with environmental law with an ability to receive complaints from civil society

Overall its mission is to protect and improve the environment by holding government and other public authorities to account..

We welcome Dame Glenys Stacey as the first chair — her vast experience will be invaluable for this vital role ensuring the OEP's independence is protected, the government is robustly held to account and essential strategic differences are made to tackle the nature crisis, despite the OEP's limited resources. 

The Environment Act could be a turning point for nature. New measures such as local nature recovery, protected sites and conservation of species strategies, biodiversity net gain, conservation covenants and improvements to licensing for developers could help reverse nature’s decline and start on its restoration if they are designed to complement government targets.

However, the Act also has the power to dilute our best legal protection for sites and species.   

The Environment Act includes powers to improve water management. By 2028 the EA will be able to revoke licences to abstract water due to environmental harm. It also creates a report system on drainage and sewerage management plans and requires more collaboration between water companies on managing supply and demand and environmental standards; along with strengthening the water watchdog, Ofwat’s, powers. 

The Environment Act includes measures to ensure that UK businesses do not use commodities grown on illegally deforested land, and to require businesses to carry out due diligence in their supply chains, results of which will be published annually. These provisions could be a crucial step towards eliminating deforestation from the UK's global footprint. We welcome the government’s announcements on 9th December 2023 confirming the scope of these provisions and look forward to the measures being fully enacted.