Many businesses have been working to accommodate the many changes to rules and regulations before the Environment Act comes fully into effect in 2023. New regulations outlined by schemes such as biodiversity net gain, for example, have several advantages for business owners who own land. However, business owners need to be prepared for the oncoming changes.
By winter 2023, new developments requiring planning consent must show how they will deliver a minimum of 10% increase in biodiversity. This Biodiversity Net Gain will be made mandatory in November 2023.
How is business affected by The Environment Act?
Businesses will be impacted by The Environment Act in many ways. In fact, business owners across the country may have already been impacted by some of the changes to environmental regulations over recent months, financially or otherwise.
Biodiversity net gain delivery is already placing significant demand on developers, even though the new legislation is currently not yet in force. Delivering a 10% biodiversity gain can be a serious challenge for some developments. It can be delivered either through the creation of biodiversity units within the redline boundary of the development, through reliance on units created on land elsewhere, or through statutory ‘biodiversity credits’ purchased through the government (although these are not available yet).
The biodiversity net gain credit system
The biodiversity net gain credit system, which is still in development, is expected to be launched in winter 2023, alongside the mandatory minimum gains. Biodiversity net gain requires developers to achieve a 10% increase in biodiversity value on their land, and outline how they would achieve this in any planning applications by providing a Biodiversity Gain Plan.
The BNG credit system helps developers who are unable to meet the minimum 10% requirement of biodiversity uplift on their site. In this case, they can either work with someone who owns land off site to achieve the necessary biodiversity uplift, or they can purchase biodiversity credits for equivalent biodiversity gain, which will then be invested in habitat creation.
Biodiversity Metric 3.1
The Metric has been developed in partnership with the government and Natural England to provide a method of calculating the baseline biodiversity of a site and accurately predict its future biodiversity value. It can be used by ecologists or developers carrying out an assessment, developers who have commissioned an assessment, planning authorities, communities, and landowners or land managers who want to provide biodiversity units from their site.
The metric can help inform important decisions about land management and take better account of biodiversity, calculating the values as ‘biodiversity units’ using the size, quality and location of the habitat. Even though the metric has been expertly developed by Natural England, you should always use it alongside professional ecological advice.
The Environment Act in 2023 and beyond.
Legally binding targets on biodiversity, water resource efficiency, air quality and waste reduction are expected to be set by the government to achieve short and long-term environmental goals. While each individual regulation change is hard to determine, it’s clear that more changes will be necessary for the government to achieve its targets of net zero by 2050 and halting the decline of nature by 2030.
Here are some of the environmental issues and changes to UK environment regulations you will need to consider in 2023.
Illegal deforestation: New Forest Risk Commodities regulations may ban commodities that are linked to illegal deforestation overseas. DEFRA is seeking views on how the regulations will apply to businesses.
Storm overflows: water companies will have to meet stringent new targets to limit storm overflow spills by 2035 and 2040. The government has a duty to produce a report addressing the action needed to eliminate discharges. This is in addition to the proposed reductions in nitrates and phosphates that may be included in The Levelling Up and Regeneration Act in 2023.
Biodiversity: By winter 2023, new developments must deliver a minimum of 10% increase in biodiversity, which means that all plans currently being drawn up need to include a provision for biodiversity. The biodiversity net gain credit system will be launched in winter 2023.
The Future
It can be hard to follow all the changes to rules and regulations that could have a serious impact on your business. If you need support and advice on environmental laws and regulation changes for your business, contact our team of specialists today.