It has now been six years since the United Kingdom left the European Union and more than ten years since the referendum vote itself. The story of the development of environmental law and policy since Brexit is complex. Too simply told, it hides nuance and disguises key moments along the path to where we are today.

In the immediate aftermath of Brexit, the EU surged forward putting in place dozens of new laws to enhance protection of the environment and climate as part of a European Green Deal (EGD). Whilst the pace of developing new legislation to protect the environment has slowed markedly since, that spurt meant that the level of divergence in environmental law – the gap between the UK and EU – is now significant.

IEEP UK’s research has found that between 2020 and the beginning of 2026, over 50 EU directives and regulations concerned with environmental matters have changed. Whilst not all of this legislative divergence is substantial or relevant, generally speaking, these changes have put in place more demanding or higher environmental standards for EU member states. These relate to various aspects of environmental law and policy, for example to protect nature and biodiversity, improve the quality of air, water and soil or to build a circular economy.

This is not to say that the UK or its four nations have stood still on developing new environmental law and policy. New environmental law and policy have been enacted – sometimes mirroring and tracking developments in EU law (and thus broadly aligning with EU law), sometimes to fulfil a long-held policy objective and sometimes to actively diverge away from the EU. However, more often than not, the UK has simply been less active than the EU in modifying its environmental law.

IEEP UK publishes an annual report tracking the latest developments on UK-EU policy divergence on environmental matters. The latest version of this report was published in October 2026, and can be accessed here.