Sustainability experts say need for UK to take on EU environment law is urgent

The Institute of Environmental Management and Assessment (IEMA) has called on the UK government to focus on incorporating EU environmental law into UK legislation before the Brexit deadline to “ensure continued environmental protection and provide much-needed post-Brexit certainty.”

Chairman of IEMA’s Brexit Working Group and former Environment Agency chief, Professor Paul Leinster, said earlier progress made in UK environmental protection “based on on the EU regulatory framework as a backbone,” needed to be sustained. And IEMA experts have urged the UK to seize the “unprecedented opportunity to reshape the policy landscape” to improve environmental outcomes.

The statements followed the IEMA’s publication of its Core Principles for the Environment – Brexit and Beyond, in which it outlines the institute’s main aims for Brexit: which include high aspirations for environmental protection; full implementation of international environmental agreements to which the UK and EU have signed up; and environmental decisions based on sound science.