The
European Union (EU) is concerned with the protection of the environment. The
union has adopted various measures with the aim of improving the quality of the
environment for the European citizens. Provision of high quality environment
ensures provision of high quality of life for the people (Booth et al 2015). The conservation of the environment is made
through adherence to the environmental laws and regulations that have been set.
The
EU institutions have developed the right set of standards. The EU has developed
the right set of policies that enables the countries of the European Union to
be more environmental friendly while also protecting the natural resources (Reid, 2016). This is a mechanism
to ensure that the well-being of the people is protected. In line to the issue,
there are various polices formulated that seek to protect these natural
resources (Jordan, 2009).
Provides
the platform for the environmental assessment
The EU institution seeks to maintain the environmental standards through the environment assessment. The environmental assessment seeks to evaluate in various aspect for the environment in order to provide the right guideline in the main aspects that should hold (Hodson, 2017). The assessments entail the evaluation for the climate change impacts.
The
EU institutions further provides mechanism through which regulation of the
industries and other human activities is done. The particular regulation by the
EU seeks to limit the carbon dioxide emissions from the factories while also
providing the maximum amount that should be allowed per a given region (Axelrod & VanDeveer, 2014).
Additionally,
the EU institutions seeks to ensure that practices such as deforestation and
other human activities that damage the natural environment. The EU seeks to
ensure there are appropriate mechanism for the people who are engaging in these
practices. Appropriate legislation frameworks has been provided that seeks to
ensure that the companies within the Europe jurisdiction apply technologies of
production in a mechanism that seeks to ensure that there is minimal
destruction of the environment. Some of the technology include Green energy
technology, wastage efficiency system (Dickinson 2016). The provision for deploying these systems is to
ensure that only the sustainable energy methods are only applicable in the
industries in Europe.
The
implementation of the community legislation is ensured by the member states of
European Union. Jordan, (2009)
depicts that the implementation and enforcement of the action at the national
level requires the European Commission to fulfill and act the role of the
guardian of treaties through providing the guideline through which all these
regulations are ensured (Hedemann-Robinson,
2015). The Commission is therefore bestowed with the power to ensure
that the major provision of the EU treaty are being adhered.
Challenges of Brexit in environmental law implementation
The
main challenge of the Brexit in ensuring that the environment has been
protected is ensuring that the United Kingdom follows the protocols set by the
European Union. Considering that the EU has a standard that seeks to ensure
that the environment is protected in a particular magnitude, the Brexit is
considered to be an easy way that allows for the lowering of the administrative
burden of legal compliance to these aspects (Reid, 2016). In
particular, there is concern that the protocol, permission and reporting practices
which are required in EU shall be evaded through the Brexit considering that
the United Kingdom shall be a different entity from the rest of the members in
the European Union.
Another challenges that shall be witnessed
following the Brexit is that the issue in whether the United Kingdom shall keep
pace with the evolving issues and standards of the EU. The implementation of
the environmental law are implemented through the governing that are outlined
in the treaties and this requires a framework through which all the countries
agree to. In the event will pursue the legislation and implementation as a
single entity, there shall be no common agreement on various standards and
parameters to be used in the legislation and implementation of these regulation
laws on the environment.
The
implementation of the environmental laws and regulations done as separate entities
shall have problems due to the issues that are likely to arise due to the
agreements that has been set forth.
An
illustration of the challenge is the Environment protection ACT 1990 which
seeks to integration the aspect of the wastes to include normal wastes and the
hazardous wastes. The framework provided
in the legislation sought to differentiate between these two in order to
provide a regulation on the disposition of the type of wastes that falls under
the category of the hazardous wastes (Hedemann-Robinson, 2015). The United Kingdom need to operate
within such framework in order to attain the common objective that has been
set. The provision seeks to maintain and protect the environment through the segregation,
the main challenges is that these guidelines shall not be adhered in the right
way since there is no mechanism of integration.
Further,
there are evolving protocols under the EU Guidelines that required up to date refreshing
with the intention of establishing the ne mechanism through which the
protection of the natural resources shall be made. The Brexit shall offer
challenge to the update of the technologies.
References
- Axelrod, R. S., & VanDeveer, S. D. (Eds.). (2014). The global environment: institutions, law, and policy. CQ Press.
- Booth, S., Howarth, C., Ruparel, R. and Swidlicki, P., 2015. What If…?: The Consequences, Challenges & Opportunities Facing Britain Outside EU. Open Europe.
- Dickinson, A. (2016). Back to the future: the UK’s EU exit and the conflict of laws. Journal of Private International Law, 12(2), 195-210.
- Hedemann-Robinson, M. (2015). Enforcement of European Union environmental law: legal issues and challenges. Routledge.
- Hepburn, C., & Teytelboym, A. (2017). Climate change policy after Brexit. Oxford Review of Economic Policy, 33(suppl_1), S144-S154.
- Hodson, D. (2017). Institutions of the European Union. Oxford University Press.
- Jordan, A. (2009). The implementation of EU environmental policy; a policy problem without a political solution?. Environment and Planning C: Government and Policy, 17(1), 69-90.
- Reid, C. T. (2016). Brexit and the future of UK environmental law. Journal of Energy & Natural Resources Law, 34(4), 407-415.
- Tallberg, J. (2002). Paths to compliance: Enforcement, management, and the European Union. International organization, 56(3), 609-643.
Updated 21 March 2026
This article was written before Brexit was completed and reflects the legal position as it stood during or shortly after the Brexit debate. It is now materially outdated in several important respects.
The United Kingdom formally left the European Union on 31 January 2020, and the transition period ended on 31 December 2020. EU environmental law no longer applies directly in the UK. The article’s framing of Brexit as a future concern or challenge is therefore obsolete: that legal separation has taken place.
Following Brexit, the UK addressed the gap in environmental oversight by enacting the Environment Act 2021, which established the Office for Environmental Protection (OEP) as an independent body responsible for monitoring and enforcing environmental law in England (with a separate body, NIEA, operating in Northern Ireland under the Windsor Framework arrangements). The OEP broadly replaces some of the supervisory functions previously performed by the European Commission. Scotland and Wales have their own environmental governance arrangements.
Retained EU law, including a significant body of environmental legislation, was initially preserved in domestic law through the European Union (Withdrawal) Act 2018. The Retained EU Law (Revocation and Reform) Act 2023 has since altered the status and treatment of retained EU law, meaning some EU-derived environmental rules may be amended or revoked over time. Readers should check current legislation.gov.uk entries for any specific EU-derived environmental measure they are researching.
The UK now sets its own environmental standards independently of the EU, though it retains various international environmental obligations. The article’s core discussion of how EU institutions operate internally remains broadly accurate as a description of the EU’s approach for its remaining member states, but its treatment of the UK as either a member state or as simply facing Brexit challenges is no longer current. Students should treat this article as a historical overview rather than a statement of current UK or EU environmental law.
