Are we on target for the environment?

Elena Ares; Louise Smith; Nuala Burnett; Sarah Coe

This article is part of the series Research in brief: Quick reads for the 2024 Parliament, produced for new Members of Parliament after the 2024 general election.

Air quality, biodiversity, resources and waste, and water are “priority areas” identified by the Environment Act 2021 for improving the environment in England. Ambitions are set in interim targets for 2028 and longer-term statutory targets. With many targets considered “off-track”, scrutiny of these priority areas continues to attract widespread attention.

Four priority areas

Air quality

Poor air quality is widely considered to be the largest environmental risk to public health. The Chief Medical Officer’s 2022 annual report said that the mortality burden of long-term exposure to outdoor air pollution in England in 2019 was equivalent to between 26,000 and 38,000 deaths a year. These impacts are not distributed uniformly, with the most socioeconomically disadvantaged groups generally being exposed to the poorest air quality.

In January 2024 the environmental watchdog for England, the Office for Environmental Protection, published its annual progress report. The report highlighted that although outdoor air pollution has improved “significantly” over the last 50 years, progress in reducing emissions of some key pollutants has slowed over the last decade. Emissions of fine particulate matter (microscopic particles dispersed in the air) and ammonia gas (damaging to human health and ecosystems) have seen “little to no change”.

For more, see the Library briefing on ‘Air quality: policies, proposals and concerns’.

Biodiversity loss

As noted by the World Health Organization, human life depends on healthy, biodiverse ecosystems. But biodiversity continues to decline at unprecedented rates. The UN’s Global Biodiversity Outlook 2020 concluded that the drivers are changes in land and sea use, climate change, pollution, natural resource extraction and invasive species. To address this, the international Convention on Biological Diversity agreed targets to halt species loss and protect 30% of land and sea by 2030.

The UK’s State of Nature reports describe how global biodiversity loss extends to the UK. As set out by Natural England, the government’s natural environment adviser, the UK is one of the most nature-depleted countries in the world, with nearly one in six species threatened with extinction.

A 2021 report on food system impacts by Chatham House, an international affairs think tank, concluded that intensive farming practices are a significant driver of greenhouse gas emissions and biodiversity loss, impacting habitats, water quality and soil life.

In the UK 69% of land is farmed. The charities RSPB, National Trust and the Wildlife Trust argue that changing farming to be more nature-friendly and managing more land for nature recovery are crucial to meeting the UK’s biodiversity and climate targets.

The Library’s Insight on biodiversity loss and the UK’s international obligations has more information.

Waste and resources

The not-for-profit Circle Economy Foundation’s The Circularity Gap report (2023), reported that the UK uses over one billion tonnes of primary raw materials (such as fossil fuels, minerals and biomass) a year; 15.3 tonnes per person. This is above the global average (12.2 tonnes per person).

Globally, the extraction and processing of these materials account for over 55% of greenhouse gas emissions and 40% of particulate-matter-related health impacts, according to the UN Environment Programme’s Global Resources Outlook 2024.

What happens to these resources when they become waste has a significant impact on the environment. For England the Office for Environmental Protection’s progress report noted that waste generation and incineration rates have continued to increase and that recycling rates have stalled.

Water quality

Water quality affects human and ecosystem health. Poor water quality is influenced by biological and chemical pollutant sources, including agriculture, roads and urban developments. According to data from the Environment Agency, sewage is one of the largest sources of water pollution in England.

Storm overflows discharge raw sewage and rainwater into watercourses, such as rivers. This is partly due to infrastructure; combined sewers carry both rainwater and sewage and can be overwhelmed with heavy rain. The use of storm overflow valves is permitted to avoid sewage backing up into properties. They are particularly damaging to the environment during dry weather, as sewage is more concentrated.

The government’s 2022 storm overflows discharge reduction plan set targets to reduce discharges into bathing waters and sensitive sites by 2035, and reduce all discharges by 2050.

In 2023, 464,056 sewage discharges were recorded by water companies, with a duration of over 3.6 million hours.

Water companies are required to obtain environmental permits for the use of storm overflows. However, investigations from BBC Panorama, the Guardian and the news site ENDS Report concluded that many breach environmental law by operating outside of permit conditions.

See the Library briefing on sewage discharges for more on water quality and regulation.

Changing environmental regulation after Brexit

UK environmental frameworks have changed significantly since the UK left the EU. These new systems are still being established and they are likely to evolve further, affecting how the priority areas are scrutinised and addressed.

Most environmental law is devolved, but it is no longer bound together by a common EU framework and the EU no longer carries out monitoring or enforcement. Although many UK environmental laws originated from EU legislation, since 2021 each part of the UK has passed or is due to pass new environmental laws that set different ambitions and environmental principles.

The UK Government and devolved executives have established provisional environmental common frameworks. When finalised these will show where a UK-wide approach will be taken. They have each also set up, or plan to, new monitoring and enforcement bodies.

England’s targets and plans

The Environment Act 2021 and subsequent regulations have set long-term (15 years or more) targets in each of the four priority areas. The government’s 2023 Environmental Improvement Plan included interim targets for each area, many of which will need to be met by 2028, when the plan is also next due to be revised. Some interim targets stretch further and 2030 is also a key year.

During the 2019 Parliament the government published other policy documents, plans and strategies. For example, the 2023 Plan for water set out actions to “clean up the water environment”. New funding for Environmental Land Management schemes aims to help farmers in England to improve practices as part of government policy to make farming more sustainable. A range of polices to reduce waste and improve recycling are provided in the Waste prevention programme (2023).

The Library’s Insight on new approaches to farm funding in England describes the Environmental Land Management schemes in more detail.

Progress and challenges

The Office for Environmental Protection’s 2024 progress report said that while some progress had been made, “very substantial challenges” remained and that government was “largely off track” to meet Environmental Improvement Plan ambitions, Environment Act targets and other commitments.

Environmental campaigners have been vocal about what action they would like to see in the 2024 Parliament. Many (for example, Wildlife and Countryside Link and Green Alliance) have called for increased support for farmers to invest in habitat creation and restoration. Others, including ClientEarth, have called for an environmental rights bill to help people to take legal action over poor air quality, polluted water and depleted nature.

Continuing attention also focuses on how the environment is affected by climate change and net zero ambitions.