James Murray – businessGreen   ‘Brexit means Brexit, as our tautological Prime Minister is wont to say. It also means ‘having our cake and eating it’ if poorly concealed government briefing notes are to be believed. Although anyone pinning too much hope on patisserie-based negotiating strategies should recall European Council President Donald Tusk’s pointed observation earlier this summer: “Buy a cake, eat it, and see if it is still there on the plate”.

But what does Brexit mean to the many environmental businesses operating in the UK – well over 100,000 at the last count – who are all influenced to a greater or lesser extent by EU policies, directives, targets, and investment? That was the question that was wrestled with by a host of experts at the Environmental Industries Commission’s (EIC) annual conference in London last week. It is also question that is particularly apposite given we are now just four months away from Article 50 being triggered and what little indication has come from government suggests a Hard Brexit is on the way. Meanwhile, there has been negligible public debate on how leaving the EU will impact the country’s environmental performance, beyond private reassurances from some Ministers that the UK’s Climate Change Act will guarantee continued decarbonisation efforts and reminders from opposition parties that no one who voted for Brexit voted for dirty air and water. The net result is the post-Brexit outlook for clean tech and green businesses is as opaque as the folders government aides are meant to keep briefing notes in on their way out of Downing Street. Click here to read more.