Environment Bill: Defra proposes new legally binding targets on water

As reported by Edie, the Government has proposed new ambitions to boost biodiversity, protect habitats, reduce water consumption and pollution and halve waste. Should consultations prove that the Government has support for implementing these targets, which were first announced today (16 March), they will be enshrined in law through the Environment Bill.

The Bill was designed to help the UK strengthen environmental protection ambitions following Brexit. It received Royal Assent in November 2021, more than two years after it was first introduced.

Around a year into the Bill’s progress, the Department for Food, Environment and Rural Affairs (Defra) confirmed that it would be used to introduce time-bound, numerical, legally binding targets on biodiversity, air quality, water and waste. The Department promised at the time that they would come into effect by the end of October 2022 and have deadlines in the 2030s.

The Department subsequently introduced a new target to halt biodiversity decline by 2030. This is in keeping with the international biodiversity targets currently being drawn up by the UN, which are due to be formally adopted in the coming weeks.

Today’s announcement from Defra builds on that pledge for nature with confirmation of the UK’s commitment to conserving 30% of land and water for nature by 2030. There is also a new 2030 target to increase species abundance on land by 10%.

Also touted are new 2042 targets to ensure that 70% of marine protected areas are in ‘favorable’ condition, with the rest regarded as ‘recovering’; to restore 500,000 hectares of wildlife-rich habitat in non-protected areas and to decrease the number of species on the red list index of extinction risk.

There is also a new ‘Green Paper on Nature Recovery’ providing more in-depth information on how the Government plans to deliver on these targets.

The consultation on targets can be found here, and on water:

Defra has set out a range of new targets for 2037, aimed at addressing nitrogen, phosphorus and sediment pollution from agriculture; phosphorus loadings from treated wastewater and pollution from abandoned metal mines.
There is also a new ambition to cut the use of water in England, on a per-person basis, by 20% by 2037. A 2019-20 baseline has been chosen for the water targets.