The CEDREC Roadshow

As laws and regulations continue to evolve, it is crucial for the Sustainable Footprints team to stay up-to-date with the latest environmental legislative changes. Attending the CEDREC roadshow provided valuable insights into recent developments in the legal landscape. In this blog we will discuss the key changes from the past year and a future outlook.

Revocation and Reform Bill

By far the most shocking change is the revocation and reform retained EU law bill following Brexit. This is estimated to affect between 2,400 to 3,700 laws over a period of 40 years. Over 1,500 of these laws are expected to be scrapped. This is despite 1 in 3 people expressing EU derived legislation should remain UK law. From each sector, the following are expected to not be carried through from EU to UK law:

•             588 environmental

•             493 agricultural

•             482 transportation and storage

•             58 health and safety

In addition to this, unless we choose to adopt a law it will be automatically revoked on 31st December 2023.

This is the reason that there has been a delay in the publication of the guidelines for ESOS Phase 3. These changes are being added on to the Energy Act which is working its way through Parliament as we speak. Whether this will pass before the 5th December deadline is anyone’s guess. Make sure you watch this space for any updates that may become available.

New Reporting Requirements

If you are a UK registered company that has more than 500 employees and £500 million turnover, the Mandatory Climate Related Disclosure Reporting, which came into force in April 2022, requires disclosure of main risks faced and the potential impact on the business’ activity using resilience assessments. Producer Responsibility Data Reporting came into force on 28th February 2023. Which requires packaging data to be gathered and reported including packaging and waste types, base materials and how much of your packaging is disposed in each developed nation.

Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans Pacific Partnership

Businesses are now permitted to sue the Government if regulations are introduced that affects their profit due to the UK signing the comprehensive and progressive agreement for Trans Pacific Partnership (CPTTP). This will further de-harmonise the UK from the European Union and increase risk when introducing new environmental legislation.

Carbon Leakage

Another topic reviewed was carbon leakage. This is a term used to describe businesses moving their operations to countries with less stringent environmental regulations in order to avoid costs associated with carbon emissions. A consultation in the UK is underway with measures such as an embodied emissions reporting system and a carbon border adjustment mechanism (CBAM) being implemented which is efficiently a tax on carbon intensive products. This will be equivalent to the carbon price of domestic production. The key goals of this consultation are planning to be in effect from 2026. Although structural changes may take effect from 2024, is to decrease use of higher carbon products sold (these tend to be cheaper to produce) where they undercut low carbon options.

Fluorescent Lighting Ban

With a key focus to reduce energy consumption, a fluorescent lighting ban is coming into effect from September 2023, changing the minimum energy specifications for lighting. It should be noted that this ‘ban’ does not mean you have to replace all your fluorescents in September. It simply means you won’t be able to buy the product going forward, so you are automatically pushed towards alternative lighting such as LED which is more energy efficient. The new LED light bulbs should automatically fit existing fluorescent lighting fittings.

We want to thank CEDREC, who supplied a comprehensive overview of these changes signalling a shift towards a more sustainable economy, for having us and we look forward to attending the roadshow next year.