ARCHIVED: This Practice Note has been archived and is not maintained. This tracker tool tracks and summarises key new and upcoming legislation and consultations in England and Wales regarding circular economy developments relating to product design, ecodesign and ecolabelling. The tracker is divided into the following sections: • Legislation—displaying key upcoming legislation of interest to Environment lawyers in England and Wales coming into force from 1 January 2025 • Consultations–displaying the current status and most recent developments of consultations open from 1 January 2024 or opened at an earlier date but still open as of 1 January 2025 being conducted by government departments, regulators and other bodies in relation to environmental law in England and Wales and consultations conducted by government departments, regulators and other bodies in relation to environmental law in England and Wales which closed from 1 January

ARCHIVED: This Practice Note has been archived and is not maintained. This tracker tool tracks and summarises key new and upcoming legislation in England and Wales and consultations linked to climate action and emissions reduction targets. Under the Climate Change Act 2008 (CCA 2008), as amended by the Climate Change Act 2008 (2050 Target Amendment) Order 2019 SI 2019/1056, the UK has a statutory target to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by at least 100% on 1990 levels or net zero by 2050. In addition, the UK has the following interim targets: • a 68% reduction in GHG emissions on 1990 levels by 2030—set via its updated Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC) under the Paris Agreement (although the target does not include emissions from international aviation and shipping) • a 78% reduction in GHG emissions on 1990 levels by 2035—set via the UK’s sixth carbon budget In November 2024, at COP29, the UK government announced new commitment to reduce emissions by 81% compared to 1990 levels by 2035. This target, which

ARCHIVED: This Practice Note has been archived and is not maintained. This tracker tool tracks and summarises key new and upcoming legislation and consultations in England and Wales linked to contamination, pollution and environmental permitting. The following regimes apply in England and Wales in relation to contamination, pollution and permitting: • the contaminated land regime under Part IIA of the Environmental Protection Act 1990 (EPA 1990): this covers contamination to land that is causing (or where there is a significant possibility of causing) significant harm to human health (including property), living organisms or interference with ecological systems or controlled waters • the Environmental Damage (Prevention and Remediation) (England) Regulations 2015, SI 2015/810 and the Environmental Damage (Prevention and Remediation) (Wales) Regulations 2009, SI 2009/995 (EDR): these apply in relation to environmental damage, which is defined as environmental damage to: ◦ a protected species or natural habitat that has a significant adverse effect on reaching or maintaining the favourable conservation status of the species or habitat ◦ a site of special scientific

ARCHIVED: This Practice Note has been archived and is not maintained. This tracker tool tracks and summarises key new and upcoming legislation and consultations in England and Wales linked to environmental disputes, offences and enforcement. Claims under environmental law may arise in nuisance, negligence or by other civil liability. Judicial reviews may be sought to challenge the lawfulness of decisions made, and actions or inactions by public bodies (or bodies exercising a public function). In addition, environmental reviews can be brought by the Office for Environmental Protection (OEP) where a decision notice has been served on a public authority served by the OEP and the OEP is satisfied, on the balance of probabilities, that the authority has failed to comply with environmental law, and it considers that the failure is serious. A huge variety of environmental offences exist and the relevant regulators (the OEP, the Environment Agency, Natural Resources Wales (NRW).

ARCHIVED: This Practice Note has been archived and is not maintained. This tracker tool tracks and summarises key new and upcoming legislation and consultations in England and Wales linked to environmental taxes, reliefs and incentives. HM Treasury has defined an environmental tax as one which meets the following three principles: • the tax is explicitly linked to the government's environmental objectives • the primary objective of the tax is to encourage environmentally positive behaviour change, and • the tax is structured in relation to environmental objectives—for example, the more polluting the behaviour, the greater the tax levied The following environmental taxes apply in England and Wales: • landfill tax: a tax payable on disposals of waste at licensed landfill sites and on certain prescribed landfill activities • climate change levy (CCL): a mandatory tax on UK business energy use, charged at the time of supply, known as taxable supplies. The climate change agreement (CCA) scheme entitles eligible facilities to receive a reduced rate (discount) on the CCL • aggregates levy:

ARCHIVED: This Practice Note has been archived and is not maintained. This tracker tool tracks and summarises key new and upcoming legislation and consultations in England and Wales linked to nature and biodiversity. Retained EU law (REUL) is a legal concept describing EU-derived rights and legislation preserved by UK law after the end of the Brexit transition or implementation period at 11 pm on 31 December 2020 (IP completion day). Assimilated law is the name given to REUL which remains in force after the end of 2023. The re-categorisation of REUL (and associated terms) to assimilated law reflects a change in its status and treatment under UK law, in that it is generally to be interpreted according to ordinary domestic law and principles. From 1 January 2024, REUL is ‘assimilated’ into domestic law by virtue of the fact it is generally stripped of EU-derived interpretive effects (eg supremacy of EU law, directly effective rights, and general principles previously retained under the European Union (Withdrawal) Act 2018 (EU(W)A 2018)). For more information,

ARCHIVED: This Practice Note has been archived and is not maintained. This tracker tool tracks and summarises key new and upcoming legislation and consultations in England and Wales linked to sustainability. ‘Sustainability’ and ‘sustainable business’ have evolved conceptually over recent years. Sustainability initiatives are now typically concentrated on three distinct areas: environment, social, and governance (together, ESG). This tracker is primarily focussed on the environmental limb, including responsible business, reporting and sustainable development. However please note that some legislative initiatives may encompass wider ESG factors and broader responsible business practices. The UK’s plans and proposals for improving and incentivising sustainable business practices arise out of a number of international agreements and initiatives, including the Paris Agreement, the Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures, the Task Force on Nature-related Financial Disclosures, and the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. For more information on these broader international initiatives, see: ESG and sustainability collection. The tracker is divided into the following sections: • Legislation—displaying key upcoming legislation of interest to Environment lawyers in England and Wales coming into force

ARCHIVED: This Practice Note has been archived and is not maintained. This tracker tool tracks and summarises key new and upcoming legislation and consultations in England and Wales linked to waste, including circular economy developments relating to end of life/waste and plastics, and the waste producer responsibility regime. The tracker is divided into the following sections: • Legislation—displaying key upcoming legislation of interest to Environment lawyers in England and Wales coming into force from 1 January 2025 • Consultations—displaying the current status and most recent developments of consultations open from 1 January 2025 or opened at an earlier date but still open as of 1 January 2025 being conducted by government departments, regulators and other bodies in relation to environmental law in England and Wales and consultations conducted by government departments, regulators and other bodies in relation to environmental law in England and Wales which closed from 1 January 2025. To track EU developments in this area, see: EU environment tracker 2025—waste. Full list of England and Wales environment trackers • England and Wales

ARCHIVED: This Practice Note has been archived and is not maintained. This tracker tool tracks and summarises key new and upcoming legislation and consultations in England and Wales linked to water and marine. The tracker is divided into the following sections: • Legislation—displaying key upcoming legislation of interest to Environment lawyers in England and Wales coming into force from 1 January 2025 • Consultations—displaying the current status and most recent developments of consultations open from 1 January 2025 or opened at an earlier date but still open as of 1 January 2025 being conducted by government departments, regulators and other bodies in relation to environmental law in England and Wales and consultations conducted by government departments, regulators and other bodies in relation to environmental law in England and Wales which closed from 1 January 2025. To track EU developments in this area, see: EU environment tracker 2025—water. Full list of England and Wales environment trackers • England and Wales environment tracker 2025—chemicals and hazardous substances • England and Wales environment tracker 2025—circular

This tracker tool tracks and summarises key new legislation and consultations in England and Wales linked to the regulation of chemicals and hazardous substances including the regime for the Registration, Evaluation and Authorisation of Chemicals (REACH), the regime for Classification, Labelling and Packaging of chemicals (CLP), Prior Informed Consent (PIC), pesticides, biocides, persistent organic pollutants (POPs), ozone depleting substances (ODS), and fluorinated greenhouse gases (F-gases). Following Brexit, EU regulations relating to chemicals regulation have been retained in Great Britain, with amendments. In Northern Ireland, the EU regimes continue to apply due to the application of the Northern Ireland Protocol (now known as the Windsor Framework), save in relation to the POPs regime which is UK-wide. The following regimes apply: • UK REACH, see Practice Note: UK REACH: Assimilated Regulation (EC) No 1907/2006—snapshot • GB CLP, see Practice Note: GB classification, labelling and packaging of substances and mixtures (CLP): Retained Regulation (EC) 1272/2008—snapshot • GB PIC, see Practice Note: GB Prior Informed Consent (PIC) Assimilated Regulation (EU) No 649/2012—snapshot • GB Biocides, see

This tracker tool tracks and summarises key new legislation and consultations in England and Wales regarding circular economy developments relating to product design, ecodesign and ecolabelling. The tracker is divided into the following sections: • Legislation—displaying key upcoming legislation of interest to Environment lawyers in England and Wales in force from 1 January 2026 • Consultations—displaying the current status and most recent developments of consultations open from 1 January 2026 or opened at an earlier date but still open as of 1 January 2026 being conducted by government departments, regulators and other bodies in relation to environmental law in England and Wales and consultations conducted by government departments, regulators and other bodies in relation to environmental law in England and Wales which closed from 1 January 2026 For details of expected future developments, see Practice Note: Environment—horizon scanner. To track EU developments in this area, see: EU Environment—key developments tracker and EU ESG and sustainability—key developments tracker. For details of expected future developments at EU level, see :EU Environment—horizon

This tracker tool tracks and summarises key new legislation in England and Wales and consultations linked to climate action and emissions reduction targets. Under the Climate Change Act 2008 (CCA 2008), as amended by the Climate Change Act 2008 (2050 Target Amendment) Order 2019, SI 2019/1056, the UK has a statutory target to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by at least 100% on 1990 levels or net zero by 2050. In addition, the UK has the following interim targets: • a 68% reduction in GHG emissions on 1990 levels by 2030—set via its updated Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC) under the Paris Agreement (although the target does not include emissions from international aviation and shipping) • a 78% reduction in GHG emissions on 1990 levels by 2035—set via the UK’s sixth carbon budget In November 2024, at COP29, the UK government announced new commitment to reduce emissions by 81% compared to 1990 levels by 2035. This target, which aligns with the Climate Change Committee (CCC)'s recommendations in its October 2024 letter advice and