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. This is not to say that the UK or its four nations have stood still on developing new environmental law and policy, but more often than not, the UK has simply been less active than the EU in modifying its environmental law.

This 2026 report and interactive dashboard build on IEEP UK’s 2025 and 2024 state of play reports. It 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, with this year’s edition including for the first time a dedicated chapter on cross-cutting environmental legislation. 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 launch webinar for the report will take place on Thursday 22 October, and you can register here.

Photo by Rob Wingate on Unsplash