Environmental And Climate Change Laws – Divergence Or More Of The Same?

The United Kingdom's referendum vote to leave the European Union on 23 June 2016 has raised questions about the future direction of environmental and climate change policies in the UK. In the near term it is business as usual. The long-term picture looks far less clear.

Issue in focus

Businesses across Europe are subject to a wide range of environmental, climate change and product-related laws. These take the form of EU Directives (requiring implementation by each Member State), Regulations (which are directly applicable) and national-level rules. A significant amount of soft law also exists in the form of EU and/or national-level guidance. The precise form of the legislation very much depends on the policy area. The key point, however, is that over the last two decades, by far the majority of UK environmental and climate change policy law has been driven by the EU.