Queen's Speech 2021 - Environment Bill
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Environment Bill “My Government will invest in new green industries
to create jobs, while protecting the environment... Legislation
will set binding environmental targets.” The purpose of the Bill is
to: ● Put the environment at the centre of policy making, making
sure that this Government – and those in the future – are held
accountable...Request free trial
Environment Bill “My Government will invest in new green industries to create jobs, while protecting the environment... Legislation will set binding environmental targets.” The purpose of the Bill is to:
● Placing a duty on Ministers to ensure environmental considerations are central to policy development; setting legally-binding targets; producing a long-term environmental improvement plan; and setting up the independent Office for Environmental Protection. 128
● The Bill will extend and apply UK wide, with over half of the Bill’s provisions applying to Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. Key facts ● The Bill has been carried over into the second session but work on implementing its measures has not stopped: Dame Glenys Stacey has been appointed as chair of the Office for Environmental Protection; a draft Principles Policy Statement is out for consultation; we have started developing our legally-binding targets with experts; and consultations have been launched on the deposit return scheme for drinks containers and extended producer responsibility for packaging. 129
o We introduced one of the world’s toughest bans on microbeads in rinse off personal care products in 2018 and introduced a ban on the supply of plastic straws, cotton buds and stirrers from 1 October 2020. o We will increase tree planting across the UK to 30,000 hectares of trees per year by 2025, have created a Nature for Climate Fund to drive a step change in planting in England and will publish an England Trees Action Plan this spring. o We have strengthened protections for ancient woodlands, veteran trees and other irreplaceable habitats in the revised national planning policy framework. o We have invested £3.8 billion into cleaner air, and emissions of nitrogen oxides have fallen by 32 per cent since 2010 and are at their lowest level since records began. o We have committed to protect 30 per cent of the UK’s land by 2030 and will create new National Parks and Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty, and ten Landscape Recovery projects. ● The Environment Bill will work in tandem with policies introduced in the Agriculture Act 2020, supported by measures such as the Environmental Land Management schemes. |
