Progress towards improving the natural environment in England has slowed over the past twelve months prompting fears that key targets to halt the decline in water, air quality and nature will be missed.
The latest annual assessment by the Office for Environmental Protection (OEP) found the UK Government is still largely off track in achieving its legal environmental commitments including an internationally-aligned target to ensure that by 2030 at least 30% of areas of degraded terrestrial, inland water, and marine and coastal ecosystems are under effective restoration.
The OEP assessed the prospects of meeting 43 environmental targets and commitments and found the government is largely on track to achieve nine, partially on track to achieve 12 and largely off track to achieve 20.
The report covers the period April 1st 2023 to March 31st 2024 when the previous Conservative government was in power. The OEP said the new Labour government has the opportunity “to catch up and to get on track, and to change the trajectory we are on”, but to do so “urgent and decisive action is needed”.
It noted how last year’s general election had added to repeated delays to strategic and delivery plans and called on the government to move quickly to implement measures to bridge the gap. These include recommendations to “get nature-friendly farming right” via Defra’s environmental land management schemes and “develop a circular economy framework by updating the Resources and Waste Strategy”.
“Once again, our annual EIP progress report is a worrying read,” said OEP chair Dame Glenys Stacey. “Due to the reporting cycle, it assesses the progress made under the previous government, but our recommendations and advice still very much apply to the current government as it must deal with mounting environmental challenges.
“This new government must act urgently and decisively to catch up, if it is to meet its legal obligations. Catch up not just by developing plans, but then by fully and effectively implementing them. It has several legally-binding commitments only a few years away. The window of opportunity is closing fast.”
Stacey welcomed the government’s recent decision to carry out a rapid review of the EIP.
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