The Government has announced a rapid review of the Environmental Improvement Plan (EIP), to be completed by the end of the year, to deliver on legally binding targets to save nature.

2030 ambitions remain

The Government will develop a new, statutory plan to protect and restore our natural environment with delivery plans to meet each of our ambitious Environment Act targets. This will focus on cleaning up our waterways, reducing waste across the economy, planting millions more trees, improving air quality and halting the decline in species by 2030.

The review will engage with stakeholders across environment and nature, farming, resources, waste and water sectors, working hand in glove with businesses, local authorities and civil society across the country to develop new ambitious plans to save nature.

The announcement comes as the government publishes the Environmental Improvement Plan Annual Progress Report. Overall, there have been improvements in aspects of the natural environment in 9 of the goals, as demonstrated by available data. There has been deterioration in other aspects of the environment in 6 of the goals. For the apex goal of ‘thriving plants and wildlife’ there is a legally binding target to halt the decline in species abundance by 2030 and the latest data show potential progress towards this. There are a number of indicators for which there is not yet a long enough time series to make an assessment.

Figure from EIP annual progress report, April 2023 – March 2024

Ben Goodwin, Director of Policy and Public Affairs at IEMA, said:

“A review of the Environmental Improvement Plan is clearly welcome because recent reports have so far reached the same conclusion, that the EIP is failing to deliver.

“We need an approach to delivery that marries up a range of different goals and targets that are currently disjointed – including global goals within the UN Biodiversity Plan, national goals set out in the Environmental Improvement Plan, targets in the Environment Act and what is needed at a local level to deliver nature recovery.

“The Government also needs to get on with developing a land use framework that draws together disparate policies on planning reform, biodiversity net gain and Environmental Land Management.

For a full transcript of the speech by Secretary of State Steve Reed announcing the review click here

For the latest Environmental Improvement Plan annual progress report click here