About Environment Law
Have you been instructed at short notice to advise on transactions or new environmental legislation outside your comfort zone? Are you up-to-date with the latest changes in environmental regulation – and have a sense of what’s on the horizon?
Current awareness, horizon scanning and trackers
Our curated daily news alerts, environmental law podcast and dedicated environmental law trackers, split according to topic and covering consultations and legislation, alongside our cases tracker, will save you time.
Air emissions and climate change
We show where climate change targets come from at national, European and international levels, plus we detail climate reporting and disclosure frameworks, track litigation and provide practical guidance for your business
Brexit and divergence
We detail the environmental law regimes that have been impacted by Brexit and track EU/UK/GB divergence.
Transactional support
We’ll give you transactional support guides and precedents for the environmental and health and safety (EHS) issues that environmental lawyers need to consider when supporting corporate and property deals.
Topics We Cover
Latest Environment News
On 13 November 2025, the fourth day of the 30th Conference of the Parties (COP30) of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate...
The Environment Agency (EA) has published guidance on how it determines applications for water abstraction licences when there are competing proposals...
The Council of the EU has formally authorised the European Commission to open negotiations with the UK on two agreements: a common sanitary and...
The Taskforce on Nature-related Financial Disclosures (TNFD) has welcomed the International Sustainability Standards Board's (ISSB) decision to...
The UN Environment Programme Finance Initiative (UNEPFI) has published the first progress report from the Net-Zero Export Credit Agencies Alliance...
Latest Environment Practice Notes
Costs for judicial review—protective costs orders (PCOs), judicial review costs capping orders (JRCCOs) and intervenersThe question of who will pay...
Directors' duties—fundamentalsDirectors, and in some cases shadow directors, owe numerous duties to a company. Many of those duties have been...
Sustainable business and environmental, social, governance (ESG)—introduction for companies and advisorsKey termsThe terms ‘responsible/sustainable...
Biodiversity—international lawThis Practice Note is part of a suite of content on biodiversity including the following:•Biodiversity—evolution,...
Environmental enforcement undertakings—environmental permitting—trackerRegulatory Enforcement and Sanctions Act 2008 (RESA 2008) enables regulators to...
Latest Environment Precedents
Environmental Information Regulations 2004, Data Protection Act 1998, Freedom of Information Act 2000—provision for disclosure by a local authority...
Legal due diligence report—private M&A—share purchaseProject [insert project name]Prepared for [Insert addressee name][Insert date of...
Pie crust lease of a unit on an estateHM Land Registry Prescribed ClausesLR1. Date of the lease[date]LR2. Title number(s)LR2.1 Landlord's title...
Commercial Lease: Alterations (improve environmental performance) (Rosie’s Clause) (The Chancery Lane Project)These precedent green clauses are for...
Environment Health and Safety due diligence questionnaire (DDQ)—asset purchaseEnvironment Health & SafetyPlease provide the following:1Copies of all...
Latest Environment Q&As
Featured Environment content
Private nuisance and the rule in Rylands v Fletcher—common law liability for environmental harm
Nuisance and the rule in Rylands v Fletcher—common law liability for pollutionPrivate nuisancePrivate nuisance is an unlawful interference with a...
Public nuisance—general principles
Public nuisance—general principlesPublic nuisanceThe common law offence of public nuisance was abolished by section 78 of the Police, Crime,...
Meaning of waste—definition of waste
Meaning of waste—definition of wasteDefinition of Waste'Waste' is defined in the Waste Framework Directive, Directive 2008/98/EC (WFD) as any...
Environment Agency (EA)—powers of entry
Environment Agency (EA)—powers of entryThe Environment Agency (EA), Natural Resources Wales (NRW) and Health and Safety Executive (HSE) have...
Commercial Property Standard Enquiries (CPSE)—environmental and health and safety considerations and additional enquiries
Commercial Property Standard Enquiries (CPSE)—environmental and health and safety enquiriesCommercial Property Standard Enquiries (CPSEs) are industry...
Highway drains and culverts
Highway drains and culvertsFor the purposes of s 100 of the Highways Act 1980, a ‘highway drain’ is defined as including a ditch, gutter, watercourse,...
Environmental insurance—when is it needed?
Environmental insurance—when is it needed?What is environmental insurance?Environmental insurance is a risk transfer solution to indemnify the insured...
Riparian ownership—rights and responsibilities
Riparian ownership—rights and responsibilitiesWhat does riparian ownership mean and who does it affect?‘If you own land or property next to a river,...
Control of asbestos—asbestos surveys
Control of asbestos—asbestos surveysLegal requirementsThere is a legal presumption that any non-domestic buildings (and the common parts of domestic...
Environmental management—environmental management systems (EMS)
Environmental management—environmental management systems (EMS)What is an environmental management system (EMS)?An environmental management system...
Water pollution—legislation
Water pollution—legislation This Practice Note looks at the key legislation in England and Wales for controlling and preventing water pollution and...
United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS)—snapshot
United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS)—snapshotTitleUnited Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS)Parties168Adopted10...
Judicial review—sufficient interest (standing) in environmental matters
Judicial review—sufficient interest (standing) in environmental mattersOriginally produced in partnership with Alistair Mills of Landmark Chambers and...
Contaminated land—remediation notices (service and appeal)
Contaminated land—remediation notices (service and appeal)What is a remediation notice?A remediation notice is a formal written notice that requires...
Energy performance certificates (EPCs)—issues for commercial landlords and tenants
Energy performance certificates (EPCs)—issues for commercial landlords and tenantsThis Practice Note looks at some of the key practical issues for...
Environmental management—environmental legal registers
Environmental management—environmental legal registersWhat is a legal register?A legal register is the documented output from a process where an...
Environmental liabilities—what are clean-up liabilities?
Environmental liabilities—what are clean-up liabilities?Clean-up liabilities are legal and financial obligations to remediate pollution or...
Contaminated land—meaning of remediation
Contaminated land—meaning of remediationMeaning of remediation'Remediation' is given a relatively wide definition in the Environmental Protection Act...
Associated legal terms
CLEUD
A Certificate of Lawfulness of Existing Use or Development (CLEUD) issued by a Local Planning Authority under the Town and Country Planning Act, s 191 where they have received an application satisfying them of the lawfulness of the use, operations, or any other matter described, in, on, over or under the land.
Contaminated land
Any land in such a condition that significant harm is being caused or there is a significant possibility of such harm being caused.
Local Authority Integrated Pollution Prevention and Control
The regime regulated by local authorities under the Environmental Permitting (England and Wales) Regulations 2010, SI 2010/675 which relates to Part A(2) installations and requires the operators to obtain a permit to operate.
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