A new report assessing how the environment will fare post-Brexit has found weaker environmental protections than already exist under EU law, with water one of the major areas of concern.

This report has been written by Professor Charlotte Burns, University of Sheffield (lead author), Dr Viviane Gravey, Queen’s University Belfast and Professor Andrew Jordan, Tyndall Centre, University of East Anglia. It was commissioned by Friends of the Earth who asked the researchers to identify “what, if any, are the risks to the environment from the various post-Brexit relationships currently being discussed”. The authors maintained full academic freedom in producing the content, conclusions and recommendations. The report reviews risk to UK and EU environmental policy under the Norwegian, Canadian, and Turkish and planned and chaotic no deal Brexit scenarios. The categorisation of risk ranges from limited through to very high risk. The categorisation is based on risks to policy outputs, which we assume affect environmental outcomes. The decision of the level of risk is informed by a systematic review of the implications of each scenario for the regulation of the relevant sector, taking into account three cross-cutting risk factors: potential governance gaps; coordination problems between Westminster and the devolved nations; and the level of protection offered by international environmental commitments. Click here to download the report