Environment and Climate Change
The Environment and Climate Change Report as part of the overall Government-led Review of the Balance of Competences between the UK and the EU has been published recently.
It has been over nine months since the first call for consultation comments, where I urged environmentalists to consider the”Balance of Competencies” promoted by defra (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs) and DECC (Department of Energy and Climate Change).
I suggested that the “Balance of Competencies” will have far greater implications on the environmental landscape over the next five years that any other single issue. It has the capability of affecting the United Kingdom’s relationship with the European Union and could form part of the referendum for a potential withdrawal being discussed in Parliament.
The IEMA (Institute for Environmental Management and Assessment) response. which I contributed to, highlighted consistency of implementation as a key issue and the important role that environment and sustainability professionals play in ensuring European environmental policy outcomes are achieved in an effective and efficient way.
It will be interesting to see where this report and others in the competencies series lead as a political topic over the final years of this administration and the way forward on the issues.
The final Report, along with all the evidence and workshop notes, is available at: http://bit.ly/MbKVsv