IEEP UK Divergence Newsletter

17 July 2024

This is our first newsletter after the UK (and EU) elections, and hot off the heels of the King’s Speech laying out the new Government’s legislative agenda for the next Parliamentary session. In the coming months we, at IEEP UK, will be looking at the five key priorities for the environment laid out by new Secretary of State for EFRA, Steve Reed OBE MP, and what good practice might be taken from the rest of Europe to help achieve these. And we will be analysing what the new Government’s desire for closer ties with the EU might mean for alignment on environmental policy.

Shortly before the election we wrote blogs for UK in a Changing Europe and the Independent Commission on UK-EU relations outlining how the environment could be a good starting point for rebuilding that relationship. This built on our recent report, a Fresh Direction, launched at our Spring Parliamentary reception and a parallel briefing which explored the case for the UK rejoining the European Environment Agency. We would love to hear your thoughts on the merits and practicalities of this and hope to track any developments in this space in the coming months.

Pre-election flurry of European Green Deal laws lead to divergence with UK environment policy

Now that the dust is settling after a fraught European Parliament election campaign, and after widespread concerns from European Green Deal supporters on the fate of that flagship framework of laws for the environment and climate are beginning to ease, we can begin to see a little more of what has actually survived and passed officially into law – in the ‘Official Journal’ as Euro-jargon calls it – and what has not – yet. From a UK perspective, this flurry of EU environment and climate law making means that a large amount of significant legal and policy divergence has now fully emerged. Read the full blog from Michael Nicholson

EU forges ahead on Ecodesign

On 18 July, the Ecodesign for Sustainable Products Regulation (ESPR) comes into force. It replaces the earlier, 2009 Ecodesign Directive, and establishes a framework for setting ‘ecodesign requirements’ on a variety of specific product groups: iron, steel, aluminium, textiles, furniture, tyres, detergents, paints, lubricants, chemicals, energy-related products like washing machines and fridges, ICT products and other electronics. Requirements for individual products will be set out over a period of time.  Read the full news item

Sandeels: a bright spot for UK environment policy

A decision earlier this year by the UK and Scottish Governments to close sandeel fisheries in all Scottish waters and in English waters of the North Sea has become one of the few examples of the UK using its post Brexit independence to take more progressive action on the environment than its EU counterparts. 

As IEEP UK highlighted in a report earlier this year, there has been a gradual divergence between the EU & UK on environment and climate policy generally. The EU has forged ahead with a higher level of ambition and has deepened its suite of laws since the UK left the EU and the UK has often not matched this level of action, has moved more slowly or taken a less stringent approach to regulation. See our report here. However, the sandeels case is one bright spot and a clear exception.

The decision has implications for fishing and processing industries in the EU, particularly those in Denmark which have a 96% share in the EU sandeel fisheries quota, much of which is in UK waters and who earn over £3 million annually in revenues. There has been a challenge lodged to this decision by the European Commission under the Trade and Cooperation Agreement dispute procedure. Both sides are currently undergoing behind the scenes negotiations so it remains to be seen what the repercussions of this unilateral action will have.

In other news

What happened to Scotland’s world-leading climate targets?

On 18 April, Humza Yousaf, then First Minister of Scotland, approved the Scottish Government decision to remove and revise its legally binding obligation to reduce carbon emissions by 75% for 2030. While the move came as a shock for some, many in Scotland were aware of the Scottish Government’s shortcomings in implementing its ambitious targets, as the Climate Change Committee (“CCC”) –the UK’s independent climate advisory body– had declared, in its latest progress report to the Scottish Parliament. According to the CCC, Scotland was missing a “coherent, transparent and quantified plan on how it will meet its stretching 2030 targets”, putting in doubt the government’s capacity to deliver a challenging policy objective. Read the full blog from Nicolas Woo Canal