It has now been more than five years since the United Kingdom left the European Union. For some, this provided the opportunity to deliberately move away or ‘diverge’ from environmental rules largely set by the EU – with the UK’s active involvement. Yet for better or worse, large-scale change driven by the UK and devolved administrations across all areas of environmental policy has not materialised. Rather, the EU has taken the rulebook that both the EU & UK shared up to 2020 and built on it. It has amended and revised that rulebook by tightening up and strengthening some of those environmental rules that we both once shared and created tougher new environmental laws. The UK has chosen, in large part, not to keep pace with the EU in improving and strengthening those environmental rules.

This report captures this evolving story of legislative and policy change as the UK forges a new chapter in its journey to a more sustainable, post-Brexit future. It examines divergence across a broad swathe of environmental themes from agriculture and biodiversity to waste and water. The report also provides an assessment of the significance of divergence across these environmental themes and charts the relative position of the UK versus the EU in terms of its level of ambition.  

The full report and summary can be downloaded below. The findings and maps on the state of divergence are also available on our webpages. The report will feature in a webinar on 15 September – read more on how to register here.

Photo by Louis Tripp on Unsplash