Chapter 24 Environmental issues

There have been a number of important changes in environmental law and regulation in recent years. Examples of new developments include the Environmental Permitting (England and Wales) Regulations 2010 which impose controls on a number of activities with the potential to pollute and the new environmental liability regime introduced under the Environmental Damage (Prevention and Remediation) Regulations 2009, which implemented the European Union (EU) Directive on Environmental Liability (2004/35/EC) in the UK. The Environmental Civil Sanctions (England) Order 2010 and Environmental Civil Sanctions (Miscellaneous Amendments) (England) Regulations 2010 allow the Environment Agency or Natural England to impose a range of civil sanctions instead of prosecuting for certain environmental offences. The final part of this chapter illustrates the far reaching effect of the Climate Change Act 2008 on the industry. A key method by which the government aims to meet its target to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by at least 80% by 2050 is through greater energy efficiency, this has led to a raft of policies and measures relevant to the construction industry being adopted or proposed. Environmental regulation is a constantly developing and important area for the construction industry.