IEMA responds to Environmental Targets

Commenting on the publication of the Government’s Nature Recovery Green Paper and consultation on proposed legally binding environmental targets, IEMA’s Policy and External Affairs Director Martin Baxter said:

“We urgently need to halt the decline of biodiversity and move towards a sustainable model that delivers for the economy and the environment.

We welcome publication of the Government’s Green Paper as an opportunity to create a new framework of protection for nature and crucially its recovery. However, it is vital that nature recovery is prioritised in land use plans, agricultural incentives and water resource management, to make public and private investment in nature’s recovery an incentive to business, alongside taking action on climate change.

“The Government’s proposed legally binding targets set environmental outcomes for resource efficiency and waste, biodiversity, water and air quality over various timescales ranging from 2030 to 2050. From a business perspective, government needs to give greater clarity on the contribution that will be required from different sectors and the pace of change that will be needed to ensure the targets are achieved.

It is critical that these targets join up with current and emerging policy, alongside the Office for Environmental Protection (OEP) and cross government environmental improvement efforts."