The Environment Bill: What does it mean for businesses?
Businesses will have to adapt as the government strives for stricter targets:
The Bill requires the government to set air quality targets. Under existing conventions, the UK has already set stringent targets to cut emissions by 2030 and the bill could call for these to be even more ambitious. Then as governments seek to meet these commitments businesses will find their practises are limited.
For example, the government is targets to cut NO2 emission by over half – 34% of current NOx emissions are generated by road transport, 22% from energy generation and 19% from combustion (domestic and industrial). Many businesses have a fleet that will be impacted, businesses involved in energy generation or combustion will feel an additional restriction on their emissions from the government.
The Bill additionally requires the government to set a target for PM2.5 (fine particulate matter).
In the Clean Air Strategy, the government set out a desire to meet the World Health Organisation (WHO) guideline limit of 10ug/m3.
A report on current progress towards WHO guidelines indicates that dense urban areas such as London are furthest from achieving these targets, as a consequence stricter measures are likely to be introduced in urban areas impacting businesses who operate there.
Local Authority measures will impact businesses if they don’t get ahead now:
The Bill has aligned the duty to act and the powers to enable action within Local Authorities, this means it will be more straightforward to implement air pollution actions.
Even without these powers Norwich and London have implemented Low Emission Zones. In London vehicles are charged £12.50 daily (and £100 for heavier vehicles). As more Zones come into effect businesses will feel the financial implications of these charges, particularly if their business crosses more that one zone each day.
Further stretching their ambition, Bristol Council has become the first UK city to ban diesel cars from its streets – application of schemes like this could render certain parts of the country inaccessible to businesses who do not update their fleets.
The Bill allows local authorities to issue financial penalties for emitting smoke from a chimney (for example one serving the furnace of a fixed boiler or industrial plant) in a smoke control area.
Choosing to transition to zero emission vehicles will avoid interruption to business in the future:
The Bill empowers the government to introduce a mandatory recall of any motor vehicles that fail to meet certain environmental standards. This will impact both manufacturers who must ensure that their products meet standards that are become ever more stringent and consumers who rely on these products to conduct business.
It is also not implausible that these powers will be extended to other products which have high impact on air quality. Businesses who consider the air quality footprint of their core business now will avoid future restrictions
Businesses which set high ambitions for air quality will avoid being caught out by government review processes:
Throughout the Bill reviews are stated for various targets, improvement plans, strategies etc. Businesses who strive for ambitious action on air pollution will remain in line with these reviews without having to make rapid or expensive changes, instead they will be continuously ahead of requirements.
Information on the Environment Bill can be accessed on the government website: www.gov.uk/government/news/government-introduces-ground-breaking-environment-bill