Environment Act 2021
The Environment Act 2021 received Royal Assent on 9 November 2021. As it stands none of the relevant sections of the Act are currently in force but they are likely to be brought into effect later in 2022/2023 as the necessary secondary regulations are put in place[1].
Overview
The Act will set statutory targets in four key areas, these targets must be of at least 15 years in duration and be proposed by late 2022[2]:
- air quality
- biodiversity
- water
- waste and resource managment
The Act also creates a new Office for Environmental Protection (OEP) with a wide-ranging brief, including supervising the discharge of environmental duties by the government and other public authorities[1]. This includes powers to investigate alleged breaches of environmental law by public bodies, to issue its own non-binding rulings on alleged breaches and (in effect) to apply to enforce that ruling through the Courts by way of an 'Environmental Review'[1].
The Act implements the Govenrment's ambitions for improving the natural environment which were previously set out in the 25- Year Environment Plan. The Environment Bill required the government to publish an Environmental Improvement Plan (EIP) and the government has pledged to set interim targets for each five-year period and lay out steps it intends to take to improve the natural environment. The 25- Year Environment Plan will be adopted as the first EIP. The OEP is intended to hold the government to account for meeting these targets[3].
Legal Framework[4]
The first part of the Act puts duties on the Government in relation to environmental governance. This includes requiring the Government to:
- put in place measures to allow the Government to set and meet long-term targets related to the natural environment and people’s enjoyment of the environment;
- set at least one long-term target each related to priority areas of air, water, biodiversity, resource efficiency and waste by October 2022;
- set and meet an air quality target for fine particulate matter;
- set and meet a target related to the abundance of species;
- put in place the processes for setting and amending long-term targets
- have an Environmental Improvement Plan containing steps it intends to take to improve the natural environment. The plan must be for at least 15 years. The 25- Year Environment Plan‘A Green Future: Our 25 Year Plan to Improve the Environment‘ published by the Government in 2018 can be treated as such a plan; and
- collect and publish data related to measuring progress for improving the natural environment and meeting targets.