by Hardwick Legal | Nov 26, 2020 | Purpose Built (LexisNexis)
<article><section><p>Environment Analysis: Vanessa Jakovich, partner, and Abdullah Geelah, trainee solicitor, at Freshfields discuss the Prime Minister’s Green Industrial Revolution ten-point plan, setting out the key features and analysing whether there is anything missing from the plan.</p></section></article><section><p>Boris Johnson has outlined a ten-point plan (the Plan) for a ‘Green Industrial Revolution’, aimed at facilitating the UK’s 2050 net zero commitment through a combination of ambitious policies, £12bn of new public investment, and measures to mobilise private investment. The Plan also seeks to create and support up to 250,000 highly skilled green jobs.</p><section><h2><mark id="CITEID_898264"></mark>What are the key features of the Plan? And how will this be rolled out?</h2><p>The Prime Minister will establish a taskforce to roll out the Plan as a matter of ‘national priority’. Its key features are:</p><ul><li>offshore wind: producing enough offshore wind to power every home, increasing production to 40GW by 2030 and supporting up to 60,000 jobs. The UK’s electricity demand will rise as homes switch from gas to electric heating and from hydrocarbon to electric-powered vehicles. Substantial additional generating capacity will have to increase accordingly in the years up to and beyond 2030</li><li>low carbon hydrogen: working alongside industry to generate 5GW of low carbon hydrogen production capacity by 2030 and develop the first town heated entirely by hydrogen by the end of the decade. The government has announced investment of up to £500m in hydrogen, including for trialling homes using hydrogen for heating and cooking. Of this funding, £240m will go into new hydrogen production facilities. The focus is currently on ‘blue’ rather than ‘green’ hydrogen</li><li>nuclear power: promoting nuclear power as a clean energy source. £525m has been allocated to help develop large and smaller-scale nuclear plants, advanced modular reactors and research which could support 10,000 jobs. The Energy White paper is expected to detail how this support will reduce the up-front finance costs of new nuclear, which is a key driver of relatively high levelised cost of traditional nuclear-generated electricity</li><li>shift to zero emission vehicles: phasing out sales of new petrol and diesel cars and vans by 2030 to accelerate the transition to electric vehicles. £1.3bn of funding has been flagged to fast-track the rollout of charge points for electric vehicles across England, £582m in grants for those buying zero or ultra-low emission vehicles and nearly £500m to be spent in the next four years for the development and mass-scale production of electric</li></ul></section></section>
Source: LexisNexis Purpose Built
UK Prime Minister announces a ten-point plan for a Green Industrial Revolution
by Hardwick Legal | Nov 19, 2020 | Purpose Built (LexisNexis)
<p>The High Court has dismissed a claim for judicial review challenging changes made in England to permitted development rights and the <a href="https://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/1987/764/contents/made" data-sf-ec-immutable="">Use Classes Order 1987</a>. The changes: </p><ul><li>from 31 August 2020, permit the construction of one or two additional storeys above certain single dwelling houses or above certain detached or terraced building used for commercial purposes, so that no planning permission is required</li><li>from 31 August 2020, permit the demolition of a block of flats or certain commercial buildings and their rebuilding for residential use, so that no planning permission is required</li><li>from 1 September 2020, introduce a new commercial, business and service use class (referred to as ‘Class E’), with the effect that changes of use of buildings or land within that use class do not require planning permission</li></ul><p>Rights: Community: Action, a non-governmental campaigning organisation, challenged the government, arguing that in introducing the legislation making the changes, the government:</p><ul><li>breached requirements to carry out strategic environmental assessment, </li><li>failed to comply with the public sector equality duty, and</li><li><failed to comply with requirements for lawful consultation. <</li></ul>
Source: LexisNexis Purpose Built
New permitted development rights and Class E use class found lawful
by Hardwick Legal | Oct 15, 2020 | Purpose Built (LexisNexis)
<article><section><p>Environment analysis: Simon Tilling, Partner and head of environmental law at Burges Salmon LLP considers the current UK-EU negotiating position on key environmental issues, the alignment of UK laws with EU-laws and non-regression, the potential impact of the Internal market Bill on these issues and what to expect moving forward.</p><h2>What are the current UK and EU negotiating positions on key environmental issues such as emissions trading, chemicals and REACH?</h2><p>We should start by remembering that the environmental sector was largely pro-EU in the 2016 referendum campaign, no doubt informed by the fact that so much of the legal framework for the protection of the environment comes from the EU, and the knowledge that many of the big environmental issues facing us today need to be tackled on a global scale. This thinking has continued to endure within some rather optimistic views on what a free trade agreement might achieve in ‘locking in’ environmental protection by coupling us to an increasingly ambitious European Commission green agenda.</p><p>The political reality is rather different. Take the EU REACH Regulation on chemicals. Over the past decade, the European Chemicals Agency has received vast quantities of scientific data from industry on the chemicals placed on the EU single market in quantities over one tonne p.a. That data is used by the European Chemicals Agency and all of the chemicals agencies within member states to evaluate the potential hazards of those chemicals. Both the chemicals industry and environmental campaigners have been arguing that it is absurd to replicate this in the UK, rather than to align UK chemicals regulation with EU REACH and share that data. The cost to industry of replicating the database in the UK has been estimated at one billion pounds even before the question arises of how the UK agency (the HSE) will evaluate it all.</p><p>On 1 October this year, the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, Michael Gove, was asked on the floor of the House of Commons </p></section></article>
Source: LexisNexis Purpose Built
Brexit and the environment—current state of play
by Hardwick Legal | Oct 6, 2020 | Purpose Built (LexisNexis)
<article><section><p>Environment analysis: The Waste (Circular Economy) Regulations 2020 are in force from 1 October 2020. This News Analysis considers the background, scope and key changes implemented through these regulations.</p><p>The Waste (Circular Economy) (Amendment) Regulations 2020, <a href="https://www.lexisnexis.com/uk/lexispsl/environment/document/412012/610K-RJM3-CGXG-0205/linkHandler.faces?psldocinfo=Waste__Circular_Economy___Amendment__Regulations_2020_News_Analysis&linkInfo=F%23GB%23UK_SI%23num%252020_904s_Title%25&A=0.2965258649448892&bct=A&risb=&service=citation&langcountry=GB" target="_parent">SI 2020/904</a>, are in force from 1 October 2020. These regulations transpose the EU’s 2020 Circular Economy Package (CEP) in England and Wales, and partially for Scotland and Northern Ireland.</p><h2>What is the background to the Waste (Circular Economy) (Amendment) Regulations 2020?</h2><p>Global waste is currently projected to reach 3.4 billion tonnes annually by 2050. Waste generation causes harmful effects to humanity, wildlife and the environment. Increased waste generation depletes raw materials and pollutes land, water and air.</p><p>In 2015, the European Commission published proposals to amend six EU Waste Directives, including <a data-sf-ec-immutable="" href="https://www.lexisnexis.com/uk/lexispsl/environment/document/412012/610K-RJM3-CGXG-0205/linkHandler.faces?psldocinfo=Waste__Circular_Economy___Amendment__Regulations_2020_News_Analysis&linkInfo=F%23GB%23EU_DIR%23num%2532008L0098%25&A=0.7629122702111358&bct=A&risb=&service=citation&langcountry=GB" target="_parent">Directive 2008/98/EC</a>, the Waste Framework Directive (WFD), <a data-sf-ec-immutable="" href="https://www.lexisnexis.com/uk/lexispsl/environment/document/412012/610K-RJM3-CGXG-0205/linkHandler.faces?psldocinfo=Waste__Circular_Economy___Amendment__Regulations_2020_News_Analysis&linkInfo=F%23GB%23EU_DIR%23num%2531999L0031%25&A=0.4177959119318909&bct=A&risb=&service=citation&langcountry=GB" target="_parent">Directive 1999/31/EC</a>, the Landfill Directive (LFD), and <a data-sf-ec-immutable="" href="https://www.lexisnexis.com/uk/lexispsl/environment/document/412012/610K-RJM3-CGXG-0205/linkHandler.faces?psldocinfo=Waste__Circular_Economy___Amendment__Regulations_2020_News_Analysis&linkInfo=F%23GB%23EU_DIR%23num%2531994L0062%25&A=0.9075363516811861&bct=A&risb=&service=citation&langcountry=GB" target="_parent">Directive 94/62/EC</a>, the Packaging Waste Directive (PPWD). Known collectively as the CEP, the proposals entered into force on the 4 July 2018. The objectives of the CEP are to reduce the adverse impacts of waste generation and the overall impacts of resource use by ensuring appropriate application of the waste hierarchy, by placing restrictions on landfilling and incineration and also by changes to the arrangements affecting hazardous waste and waste oils.</p><p>The <a data-sf-ec-immutable="" href="https://ec.europa.eu/environment/circular-economy/index_en.htm" target="_blank" title="Opens in a new window">CEP</a> introduced a revised legislative framework and established a long-term plan for waste management and recycling. For more information see Practice Note: <a data-sf-ec-immutable="" href="https://www.lexisnexis.com/uk/lexispsl/environment/document/412012/610K-RJM3-CGXG-0205/linkHandler.faces?psldocinfo=Waste__Circular_Economy___Amendment__Regulations_2020_News_Analysis&ps=null&bct=A&homeCsi=0&A=0.3158248653710809&urlEnc=ISO-8859-1&&dpsi=0OLN&remotekey1=DOC-ID&remotekey2=0OLN_2758581&service=DOC-ID&origdpsi=0S4D">Waste—the circular economy</a>.</p><p>In tandem with the CEP, in 2019 the Circular Economy Action Plan (CEAP) was published, which introduced initiatives for the life cycle of products, targeting their design, promoting circular economy processes, fostering sustainable consumption, and aiming to ensure that resources used are kept in the EU economy for as long as possible. The CEAP was published as part of the <a data-sf-ec-immutable="" href="https://ec.europa.eu/info/strategy/priorities-2019-2024/european-green-deal_en" target="_blank" title="Opens in a new window">European Green Deal</a>. For more information on the CEAP see News Analysis: <a ></a ></p></section></article>
Source: LexisNexis Purpose Built
Waste (Circular Economy) (Amendment) Regulations 2020—News Analysis
by Hardwick Legal | Sep 14, 2020 | Purpose Built (LexisNexis)
<article><section><p>Energy analysis: Matthew Collinson, independent specialist energy lawyer and consultant, discusses the <a href="https://www.nationalgrideso.com/document/173821/download" target="_blank" data-sf-ec-immutable="">Future Energy Scenarios</a> (FES) <a href="https://www.nationalgrideso.com/document/173821/download" data-sf-ec-immutable="">2020</a>, providing an overview of common themes and highlights what it means for energy lawyers.</p><section><h2>What is FES 2020?</h2><p>FES is an annual publication by National Grid Electricity Transmission System Operator (NETSO). It actually refers to a suite of documents, but is commonly taken to mean the FES Report, which sets out a range of different, credible scenarios for decarbonising the energy system.</p></section><section><h2><mark id="CITEID_865531"></mark>What are the key changes from FES 2019 to FES 2020?</h2><p>The most important change for FES 2020 is that all scenarios have net zero at their core. The timing of the net zero commitment meant that FES 2019 could only include a net zero sensitivity analysis, whereas FES 2020 is focused on different pathways for achieving the new net zero target.</p></section><section><h2><mark id="CITEID_865532"></mark>What are the common themes highlighted by NETSO in FES 2020?</h2><p>Like its predecessor, FES 2020 highlights four possible scenarios. All but one achieve net zero by 2050: the ‘Steady Progression’ scenario achieves only a 68% reduction in emissions against 1990 levels by 2050.</p><p>In broad terms (and unsurprisingly) the fastest decarbonisation requires changes from both consumers (the products they buy, and how they use them) and industry (efficient products that allow smarter consumption).</p><p>NETSO anticipates that if the transition is driven predominantly by a change in consumer behaviour, increased uptake of residential heating products like air source heat pumps will force the system towards greater electrification. A consumer-led transition is, however, contingent on the success of the smart meter roll-out, and relies on companion technologies like thermal stora</p></section></section></article>
Source: LexisNexis Purpose Built
Future Energy Scenarios 2020
