The Government has published a partial draft for the 2019 Environment Bill outlining the of the UK’s new post-Brexit watchdog for green standards. The regulator will replace the power currently held by the European Commission to hold governments account for not fulfilling their commitments. The document confirms that the watchdog will be called the Office for Environmental Protection (OEP) and will work alongside the Environment Agency and Natural England to uphold existing standards once Brexit is complete. The OEP will...

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The Government announced the demise of the CRC Energy Efficiency Scheme in 2016 to reduce the administration burden on participant organisations. As it is widely recognised that carbon emissions reporting has a valuable role to play in decarbonisation, the government introduced the Streamlined Energy and Carbon Reporting (SECR) as a new reporting framework from April 2019. The SECR aligns with best practice, building on the existing mandatory reporting of greenhouse gas emissions by UK quoted companies The UK government and...

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With no significant announcements for climate change in the last two budgets and following the Chancellor’s UK Government’s 2018 Budget, the industry was poised for some good news for the green economy. Whilst there were some positive pledges, the avoidance of some issues has caused a mixed reaction across the industry. The key announcements were as follows: The plastic packaging tax - the Chancellor declared that the UK will lead the world with the introduction of a new tax on...

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RICS has launched new requirements that set a marker for the standard of management required in commercial property and provide mandatory obligations that its members and any RICS regulated firms engaged in this area must comply with. The new rules are effective from 1st April 2019 and have been put in place to ensure service charges to commercial tenants are transparent, upfront and fair, and that any costs incurred are in accordance with the terms of the occupational lease. The...

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The Government announced the demise of the CRC Energy Efficiency Scheme in 2016 pledging to recover the lost revenue by increasing the Climate Change Levy (CCL) in 2019. It is widely recognised that carbon emissions reporting has a valuable role to play, after all you cannot manage what you do not measure, and therefore the Government also pledged to introduce a streamlined energy reporting mechanism. The Government’s intention is to reduce the administrative burden of participation in what was a...

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DEFRA, the UK government department responsible for safeguarding our natural environment,  has launched a consultation on its draft long-term Clean Air Strategy outlining the steps it plans to take to address emissions from a range of sources. The strategy outlines ambitions to make the UK’s air healthier to breathe, to protect nature and boost the economy. This includes proposals to tackle air pollution from domestic solid fuels, agriculture, non-road mobile machinery, aviation and shipping. The consultation will inform the final...

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On 2nd May 2018 the Scottish Government released its latest publication ‘The Energy Efficient Scotland: Route Map’. The 20-year plan outlines the vision of Scotland being energy efficient and ensuring that all homes and buildings are warmer, greener and more efficient by 2040. The Scottish Climate Change Plan, published in February 2018, sets out the policies and proposals that will keep Scotland on course to achieve the 2050 target of cutting total greenhouse gas emissions by 80%. To achieve...

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Clean Air Day 2018 is on 21st June giving sustainability professionals the opportunity to bring the issue of air pollution to the attention of their workplaces. Air pollution affects all of us at work, home and on our travels. The pollutants in the air we breathe cause heart and lung diseases, shortens the life of around 29,000 people every year and costs the NHS around £20bn. Whilst it has become commonplace to employers to focus on climate change and the...

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Current legislation requires compliance from qualifying organisations for Phase 3 of CRC by the end of January 2019. Despite the planned scrapping of the scheme, organisations that used 6 GWh of qualifying electricity from 1st April 2017 to 31st March 2018 will qualify for Phase 3 and are required to fully participate. In the 2016 Spring Budget, the Chancellor announced that the UK Government has decided to close the CRC from the end of the current Phase (Phase 2), and...

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The 53 member states of the Commonwealth have agreed to renew commitments to the Paris Agreement that would pursue efforts to limit temperature increase to 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels as defined by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). The Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) took place in London and Windsor from 16 to 20 April 2018 during which there were a number of green announcements before arriving at the pledge.   A declaration was signed during the later...

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