Weekly environmental update - 12 July
Welcome to the latest edition of our weekly Environment Law news update. As ever, we bring you developments, insights, and analysis in the world of environmental law.
NEWS ROUND UP
Labour’s environmental agenda: key changes following the 2024 UK election
The UK now has in place a new Labour government for the first time in 14 years as a result of the general election. This article outlines some of the key implications for the environment based on the Labour party’s manifesto commitments including key appointments.
Starting with the key appointments we now have in place Ed Miliband MP as Energy, Security and Net Zero Minister, Steve Reed OBE MP Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Minister, and Angela Rayner MP as the newly named Housing Communities and Local Government Minister.
Labour Manifesto ‘Change’
An analysis of the Labour Manifesto titled ‘Change’ provides for the basis for the key implications for the environment going forward. The manifesto places an emphasis on the climate and nature crisis as being the greatest long-term global challenge with environmental initiatives being a significant part of the mission to ‘rebuild’ Britain’ focusing on making the UK a clean energy superpower.
Ambitious Clean Energy Targets
The new government has set ambitious targets to significantly boost renewable energy by 2030 including doubling onshore wind capacity tripling solar power and quadrupling offshore wind. This will be supported by the Energy Independence Act and further investments in carbon capture hydrogen and marine energy technologies. The lifetime of existing nuclear plants will be extended with new projects like Sizewell C and Small Modular Reactors moving forwards.
Establishing Great British Energy
To spearhead clean energy investment Labour plan to create Great British Energy a publicly owned company with an £8.3 billion budget. This entity will partner with industry to support local energy projects reducing pressure on the national grid through the Local Power Plan.
Enhancing Home Energy Efficiency
The new government plans to invest an additional £6.6 billion to improve the energy efficiency of five million homes. The Warm Homes Plan will provide grants and low-interest loans for insulation and low-carbon heating upgrades. By 2030 private rented homes will need to meet minimum energy efficiency standards (MEES).
Protecting and Restoring Nature
Labour’s environmental commitments include meeting the targets set under the Environment Act 2021. They will improve access to nature, create new National River Walks and National Forests and expand habitats like wetlands and peat bogs. These efforts will be collaborative involving communities and businesses.
Leading in Climate Policy
Labour supports a Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism to protect domestic industries and meet climate targets. They also plan to reverse restrictions on the Bank of England’s climate change mandates positioning the UK as a leader in green finance and requiring financial institutions to develop transition plans aligned with the Paris Agreement.
Addressing Water and Waste Pollution
The new government has plans to transition to a circular economy and will place failing water companies under special measures to address pollution. New regulatory powers will allow blocking bonuses for polluting executives and impose severe fines for violations, but it is difficult to see how it will tackle agricultural runoff pollution.
Supporting Sustainable Farming and Animal Welfare
Labour’s agricultural policies appear to focus on supporting British farming with a target for half of public sector food procurement to be locally sourced or environmentally certified. They plan to introduce a land use framework, work to eradicate Bovine TB without badger culling and enhance animal welfare by banning trail hunting, hunting trophy imports and snare traps.
Further details on these initiatives are anticipated in the much-awaited King’s Speech on 17 July which will likely include legislative proposals to implement these plans.
Environmental taxes to drop, returning to pre-pandemic levels
HMRC have published provisional figures for receipts from landfill tax, the climate change levy, the carbon price floor and the aggregates levy. These environmental taxes are designed to encourage environmentally friendly positive behaviour by making more polluting activities more expensive. They are working towards reducing environmental impact and promote sustainability. The figures show that they are all expected to drop.
Landfill tax tonnage is expected to fall by 14% as declared in 2023-24 figures; continuing a downward trend over the last decade. There was a small rise in 2020-21 and 2022-23; the latter at its highest of £2,092 million corelated to the start of the Covid 19 pandemic, but it was short lived. Receipts for the financial year 2022-23 were £266 million lower than the provisional figures for 2023-24 which show that the receipts from these two taxes are expected to decrease by 13%.
Declarations for solid and other fuels corelate with declining quantities of coal used for electricity production in the UK expected to fall to their lowest level in the financial year ending 2024.
The aim of the decline is to provide incentive for the diversion of waste from landfill to other less harmful methods of waste management, such as recycling and incineration.
The aggregates levy was generally increasing until the financial year ending 2020. Now, the figures show a decline; the total tonnage expected to be declared for the financial year ending 2024 is 232,117,000 tonnes, which is 339,000 tonnes (less than 1%) lower than the previous financial year.
The figures also showed a fraudulent activity; in 2022-23 14.5% of landfill tax due being avoided and amounting to £100 million.
According to Steve Gough, chief executive at environmental compliance scheme Valpak, this decrease is due to businesses increasingly integrating sustainable practices into their operations and supply chains. Further, he mentioned that the environmental revenue has returned to pre-pandemic levels.
Looking at the future, in April 2025 landfill tax is due to increase by about 20%, potentially leading to a rush for exports of refuse-derived fuel. In view of protecting themselves, firms might consider embedding circularity into each of their business verticals. This would minimise their costs as well as help ensure alignment with the government’s environmental expectations in driving positive environmental change, reducing taxation and laying the foundations for future sustainable economic growth.
High Court upholds government’s energy efficiency standards amidst controversy
The High Court has dismissed a legal challenge against the government’s decision to limit local councils’ ability to set stricter energy efficiency standards than those outlined in national regulations. This decision sparked debate about the role of local authorities in combating climate change and the need for more robust energy efficiency standards.
In December 2023, a written ministerial statement (available here) provided that the Government does not expect Councils “to set local energy efficiency standards for buildings that go beyond current or planned buildings regulations.”
A legal challenge was brought forward by Rights: Community: Action and the Good Law Project, who argued that the government’s policy failed to consider environmental principles introduced by the Environment Act and unlawfully restricted local authorities’ powers. They contended that local councils should have the autonomy to implement stricter energy efficiency standards if they deemed it necessary for their specific regions.
However, the High Court found that the government’s retrospective assessment met legal requirements. The court ruled that the policy choice was rational and within the minister’s discretion. This ruling effectively upholds the government’s decision to limit the energy efficiency standards that local councils can set, aligning them with national regulations.
Despite the setback, the campaign groups plan to appeal the decision. They emphasize that the government’s current standards are not sufficient to address the urgent need to reduce carbon emissions, particularly from new housing. The appeal will likely focus on the argument that local authorities should have the power to implement stricter standards based on their specific environmental needs and challenges.
The case raises important questions about the balance of power and the role of local councils in driving environmental change. As the appeal process unfolds, it will be interesting to see how these issues are addressed and what implications this could have for future environmental policy-making.
Judicial Review against Cambridge incinerator refused by the High Court
Last week, the High Court refused to grant Fenland District Council permission to bring a Judicial Review claim against the waste-to-energy incinerator plant in North East Cambridgeshire.
Back in February this year, Department for Energy Security and Net Zero (“DESNZ”) granted approval for MVV Environment to construct the largest waste-to-energy incinerator in Europe in an industrial part of Wisbech on the Cambridgeshire-Norfolk border.
Following the decision, the Council voted unanimously to pursue legal action. As the decision was made by a Development Consent Order, the decision could not be appealed, and so the only option for opponents to challenge the decision was via Judicial Review. The primary opposition fronted by campaigners against the site was over the level of pollution it would generate in a built-up area.
Despite the Judicial Review application being launched by the Council, the Environment Agency granted an environmental permit to the site back in May. This authorised MVV Environment to operate an incinerator with a capacity of up to 625,600 tonnes a year, including non-hazardous household, commercial and industrial waste.
The reasoning behind the refusal to permit the Judicial Review is unclear, as a copy of the decision has yet to be published. Following this refusal, the Council announced earlier this week that they would not be seeking any further legal challenge after their legal advisers confirmed there were, “no further realistic grounds" to oppose the incinerator by a judicial review.
The decision gives MVV Environment the greenlight to progress the project, with construction set to begin in 2025.
