EA chief executive Sir James Bevan disagrees strong environmental regulation crucial to post-pandemic economic recovery
A stronger focus on “better regulation , not deregulation” after Brexit and the Covid-1 9 pandemic are critical to helping businesses to thrive while protecting England’s air, country and liquid from menaces such as climate change, distributed according to Environment Agency( EA) chief executive Sir James Bevan.
Bevan said the economic impair make by the coronavirus crisis alongside the UK’s recent exit from the EU opened up both the need and opportunity for a rapid recuperation policy help facilitate effective regulation, which he bickered could both improve firms supplanted while also stopping environmental destruction.
But the former Foreign Office CEO, who took over at the helm of the EA in 2015, warned against “false choices” in any moves to reshape the UK’s approach to regulation post-Brexit, as he called for adequate resources and funding for the EA to carry out its work.
“Better regulation isn’t code for deregulation, ” Bevan said. “The test for any changes in legislation must be that they will deliver better environmental upshots as well as being good for the economy.”
He added that the EA needed “the right resources, funded under operators and by government, to deliver the high-pitched aims we all have in enhancing our environment”. “Ultimately, we will get the environment we are prepared to pay for, ” he said.
Bevan’s remarks are likely to find favour among light-green business groups and NGOs which have long warned against opening the door to a post-Brexit regulatory bonfire that could lead to a ‘race to the bottom’ on environmental and climate standards.
That comes in stark contrast to the stance of arch-Brexiteers, many of whom have examined the UK’s exit from the European union countries as an opportunity for to trench many regulations that affect ventures. Last month, meanwhile, the leaders of 250 firms were also asked by the government for their views on which rules and regulations they would most wish to see dropped.
But Bevan said strong environmental regulations were of benefit to both the economy and the environment. “Good regulation isn’t involved, bureaucratic, and costly; it is simple, impactful, and money-saving, ” he continued. “The best regulation will stop environmental damage at the source, rather than the costly impact to the public purse and the environment of responding to damage after the event.”
It came as the EA yesterday published a brand-new report it said set about the potential benefits of environmental regulations in protecting breath, sea and land from harmful pollution. The report, which covers data from regulatory activities in 2019, claims to demonstrate improving trends in environmental compliance, pollution happens, crime and emissions.
Since 2010, airborne pollutants emissions have come vastly, with nitrogen oxides throwing 63 per cent of cases, sulphur oxides coming 81 per cent and PM10 particle pollution chipped by really over a third, the report proves. Meanwhile, it indicates the number of serious contamination incidents descended 12 per cent of cases to 467 between 2018 and 2019, while the EA said it stopped illegal waste act at 940 locates, penalty businesses and individuals a total of PS4. 4m for environmental offences.
Even so, other bodies have repeatedly warned of a worryingly steep decreased in the England’s natural world, however, with the authorities concerned having failed to meet any of the internationally-agreed biodiversity targets set 10 years ago. Last year the Natural Capital Committee informed there had been virtually no progress against the government’s own biodiversity, liquid, aura and soil quality destinations. Data from the EA last year also evidenced all English flows failed to meet quality tests for pollution.
But Bevan held the findings of the EA report yesterday “shows that regulation works”.
“We are already playing a significant role through regulation, by enabling the technologies needed to decarbonise the UK economy, including nuclear, hydrogen, and carbon captivate, and we have launched the brand-new UK Emissions Trading Scheme, ” he said. “But as we and our world continue to change, we are not able to permit the environmental issues to be left behind.”
Read more: businessgreen.com
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