Is there a deliberate policy to do things differently in the UK, a silent agreement for non-divergence, or a lack of a planned approach? What would this divergence mean for the environment, for business, and not least for the legal commitments made in the Trade and Cooperation Agreement with the EU?

IEEP UK will be hosting on Monday, 19 February (12.00-13.00 UK time) an online event to discuss the interim findings of our latest briefing, ‘Divergence in UK/EU environmental policy: The state of play‘, which has revealed increasing incidences of divergence in environmental policy over the last two years in the EU, the UK and devolved nations, some of which threaten to be consequential in their impact.

On the day, we will be joined by:

• Malini Mehra – (Chair) CEO of GLOBE & Chair of IEEP UK

Malini Mehra is Chair of the Institute for European Environmental Policy UK and Chief Executive of GLOBE Legislators, the environmental legislators organisation founded by Al Gore and John Kerry. She is an award-winning sustainability leader, with more than three decades of international experience, from advising the UN Secretary-General on UN reform, to leading international sustainable development partnerships for the UK government and global campaigns for Oxfam and Friends of the Earth International, to founding India’s pioneering CSR and climate organisation, Centre for Social Markets. Malini has served on numerous non-profit and corporate advisory boards, is a Commissioner to the Mayor of London on sustainable development, founder of the global anti-drowning DRR campaign, Teach A Girl To Swim, advisor to EcoPeace Middle East and Tetra Pak.

• Prof Anand Menon – Director, UK In a Changing Europe

Anand Menon is Professor of European Politics and Foreign Affairs at Kings College London. He also directs the UK in a Changing Europe project. His areas of research interest include the policies and institutions of the European Union, European security, and British politics. He contributes regularly to both print and broadcast media. He is co-editor of the Oxford Handbook of the European Union (OUP, 2012), and co-author of Brexit and British Politics (Polity, 2018). He is a trustee of Full Fact a member of the Strategic Council of the European Policy Centre, a Council member of the European Council on Foreign Relations and an associate fellow of Chatham House.

• Helena Horton – Environment Reporter, The Guardian

Helena Horton is an environment reporter for the Guardian newspaper since 2021. She has reported extensively on UK, European and International environmental affairs, spanning issues such as COP, biodiversity, climate policy, and more recently, the divergence of EU-UK environmental policy.

• Michael Nicholson – Head of UK Environmental Policy, IEEP UK

With more than 15 years of experience in environmental regulation, Michael joined IEEP in July 2021 as Head of UK Environmental Policy and Head of the London Office. His tasks include formulating and executing strategy for IEEP’s UK work and managing IEEP’s UK programmes of activities. After studying History, Politics and Security Studies at Bachelor and Master’s level, Michael went to work for the Environment Agency in England working on international projects in the EU, Turkey and China. He subsequently worked for the European Union Network for the Implementation and Enforcement of Environmental Law (IMPEL) where he headed up their operations and various programmes for over 10 years.

• Antoine Oger – Head of Research, IEEP

Antoine is a specialist in environmental and sustainability-related policies at the EU and global level. He joined IEEP in August 2021 as Head of Programme for Global Challenges and SDGs to work primarily on the coherence of the EU’s internal and external policies and on the greening of the EU’s trade policy. He previously worked for over twelve years in providing technical assistance for the sustainable development of countries in the global south. Antoine holds an MA in European Politics from the Institute of Political Studies of Rennes.

To register for the event, please follow the link to Eventbrite here; to receive our monthly divergence newsletter, please subscribe here.

For any queries, please contact enquiries@ieep.eu.

Photo by Grant Ritchie on Unsplash