Environmental governance

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• The latest being his seventh book \'Modern China\', calling for better relations between China and the West for the sake of solving climate change.\nCary advises in numerous capacities, and most recently advised on a sustainability-focused SPACwith a developer of high-grade electric vehicle (EV) battery metals which was formed at a US$2.8B valuation.\nProfessor Dr. Judith Walls Academic Advisor: Prof.Walls is Chair for Sustainability Management, Professor at the School of management and Director of the Institute for Economy and the Environment (IW) at the University of St. Gallen (HSG), Switzerland.\nProf.
• Walls researches the intersection of business and environmental sustainability focusing on corporate governance, focusing on the behavioral drivers of board directors and executives for transformative corporate sustainability.\nShe has a particular interest in business and biodiversity where her work extends into environmental governance of industries that directly affect land use such as agriculture, mining, and trophy hunting.\nSRS is a data connectivity company focused on spatial finance.
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• A Bill to make provision about targets, plans and policies for improving the natural environment; for statements and reports about environmental protection; for the Office for Environmental Protection; about waste and resource efficiency; about air quality; for the recall of products that fail to meet environmental standards; about water; about nature and biodiversity; for conservation covenants; about the regulation of chemicals; and for connected purposes.

Do you have relevant expertise and experience or a special interest in theEnvironment Bill, which is currently passing through Parliament? If so, you can submit your views in writing to the House of Commons Public Bill Committee which is going to consider this Bill. The Public Bill Committee is now able to receive written evidence. The sooner you send in your submission, the more time the Committee will have to take it into consideration.

• Aims of the Bill TheEnvironmentBill 2019-20was announced in the Queens Speech in December 2019 and Second Reading is scheduled for 26 February 2020.
• This Bill is the re-introduction of theEnvironment Bill 2019from the previous Parliamentary session.
• The previous Bill passed second reading unopposed, but fell at dissolution for the General Election 2019.

Context for the Bill

• Part 1 of the Bill on environmental governance and principles stems from adraft Environment (Principles and Governance) Bill, which was published in December 2018.
• The draft Bill fulfilled requirements of a late-stage amendment added into theEU (Withdrawal) Act 2018.The amendment was introduced to allay concerns about a perceived loss of established environmental principles and EU governance mechanisms following Brexit.
• Two select Committees (EFRA and Environmental Audit) undertook pre-legislative scrutiny of the draft Bill in the previous Parliament, with some of their recommendations being incorporated into Part 1 of the full Bill.
• Within the UK, environment is a largely devolved area and there is also a significant amount of domestic legislation relating to specific environmental policy areas.
• The Bill makes provision to amend existing environmental legislation and introduce new measures on a range of environmental policy areas within the UK.

What does the Bill do?

• Secondly, making provision on specific environmental policy areas including waste, air quality, water, nature and biodiversity, and conservation covenants.
• The Bill contains 133 clauses and 19 schedules.
• Part 1of the Bill provides measures to ensure there is no environmental governance gap in the UK following the end of the implementation period under the Withdrawal Agreement.
• The Bill specifies a series of environmental principles and requires the publication of a policy statement on these principles setting out how they are to be applied by Ministers during policymaking.
• Part 3of the Bill makes provisions for the managing of waste and producer responsibility.
• Part 4of the Bill deals with air quality and amends the requirements and management of Local Air Quality Management Frameworks.
• Part 6of the Bill provides for the creation of a new biodiversity net gain requirement, in England, of 10% for developers though the planning system.

What is new in the Bill?

• The majority of the provisions in this Bill are substantially the same as its predecessor, although a number of minor technical changes have been made to the drafting. The substantive additions to the Bill are:
  • a requirement on Ministers to make a statement to Parliament setting out the effect of new primary environmental legislation on existing levels of environmental protection (Clause 19); and
  • a requirement on the Secretary of State to conduct a two-yearly review of the significant developments in international legislation on the environment, and to publish a report on their findings every two years (Clause 20).

How does the Bill apply to UK nations?

• There are some parts that extend to the whole of the UK or apply to specific UK nations.
• For example, there are specific provisions on environmental governance, managing waste and water quality that extend and apply to Northern Ireland only.
• Provisions on waste including producer responsibility, resource efficiency and exporting waste extend and apply to the whole of the UK, as do the provisions on environmental recall of motor vehicles, and the provisions on the regulation of chemicals.

House of Commons Library

Commons Library analysis of the Environment Bill 2019-20

• A Commons Library analysis of the Environment Bill 2019-20 prepared ahead of second reading on 26 February 2020.
• TheEnvironment Bill 2019-20 was announced in the Queens Speech in December 2019 and Second Reading is scheduled for 26 February 2020.
• This Bill is the re-introduction of the Environment Bill 2019 from the previous Parliamentary session.

Context for the Bill

• Part 1 of the Bill on environmental governance and principles stems from a draft Environment (Principles and Governance) Bill, which was published in December 2018.
• The draft Bill fulfilled requirements of a late-stage amendment added into the EU (Withdrawal) Act 2018.
• The amendment was introduced to allay concerns about a perceived loss of established environmental principles and EU governance mechanisms following Brexit.
• Two select Committees (EFRA and Environmental Audit) undertook pre-legislative scrutiny of the draft Bill in the previous Parliament, with some of their recommendations being incorporated into Part 1 of the full Bill.
• The Bill makes provision to amend existing environmental legislation and introduce new measures on a range of environmental policy areas within the UK.

What does the Bill do?

• Secondly, making provision on specific environmental policy areas including waste, air quality, water, nature and biodiversity, and conservation covenants.
• The Bill contains 133 clauses and 19 schedules.
• Part 1 of the Bill provides measures to ensure there is no environmental governance gap in the UK following the end of the implementation period under the Withdrawal Agreement.
• The Bill specifies a series of environmental principles and requires the publication of a policy statement on these principles setting out how they are to be applied by Ministers during policymaking.
• Part 3 of the Bill makes provisions for the managing of waste and producer responsibility.
• Part 4 of the Bill deals with air quality and amends the requirements and management of Local Air Quality Management Frameworks.
• Part 6 of the Bill provides for the creation of a new biodiversity net gain requirement, in England, of 10% for developers though the planning system.

What is new in the Bill?

• The majority of the provisions in this Bill are substantially the same as its predecessor, although a number of minor technical changes have been made to the drafting. The substantive additions to the Bill are:
  • a requirement on Ministers to make a statement to Parliament setting out the effect of new primary environmental legislation on existing levels of environmental protection (Clause 19); and
  • a requirement on the Secretary of State to conduct a two-yearly review of the significant developments in international legislation on the environment, and to publish a report on their findings every two years (Clause 20).

How does the Bill apply to UK nations?

• There are some parts that extend to the whole of the UK or apply to specific UK nations.
• For example, there are specific provisions on environmental governance, managing waste and water quality that extend and apply to Northern Ireland only.
• Provisions on waste including producer responsibility, resource efficiency and exporting waste extend and apply to the whole of the UK, as do the provisions on environmental recall of motor vehicles, and the provisions on the regulation of chemicals.

Reaction to the Bill

• Opposition parties have raised concerns that the Bill will water down current EU standards and will not stop the UK falling behind the UK on environmental standards.
• Environmental campaign groups generally welcomed the principle and intentions of the Bill, responding positively to some changes the Government made since publication of the draft Bill, such as the expansion of the OEPs remit to include climate change legislation.
• However, environment groups were disappointed not to see legally binding targets on the face of the Bill (as opposed to a commitment to set targets) and continued to call for the OEP to be fully independent from Government and to have stronger enforcement remedies.



Commons Briefing papers CBP-8824