{"id":6775,"date":"2016-09-16T06:33:44","date_gmt":"2016-09-16T06:33:44","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/edswahs\/?p=6775"},"modified":"2016-09-16T06:33:44","modified_gmt":"2016-09-16T06:33:44","slug":"what-might-brexit-mean-for-the-environment","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/edswahs\/2016\/09\/16\/what-might-brexit-mean-for-the-environment\/","title":{"rendered":"What might Brexit mean for the environment?"},"content":{"rendered":"

In a\u00a0new study<\/a>, Charlotte Burns, Andrew Jordan and Viviane Gravey, explore what Brexit might come to\u00a0mean for UK environmental policies and governance processes by comparing two scenarios: a \u2018soft\u2019 and a \u2018hard\u2019 Brexit.<\/p>\n

A \u2018soft\u2019 Brexit would see the UK remain as close as possible to the EU, establishing a new relationship akin to Norway\u2019s current relationship, whilst a \u2018hard\u2019 Brexit would see the UK trade with the EU under World Trade Organisation rules. \u00a0The authors say that the two scenarios generate radically different impacts on policies, systems of governance and levels of environmental quality in the UK \u2013 key issues that should inform forthcoming negotiations to effect Brexit.<\/p>\n

This is the authors' Introduction:<\/p>\n

On 23rd June 2016 the UK held a referendum to decide its future relationship with the European Union. The electorate was asked if it wanted to remain or leave the EU and voted by a margin of 4% in favour of leaving (52% Leave vs 48% Remain). \u00a0The implications for the UK\u2019s environmental policy sector are potentially very far-reaching. The EU is well-known for its economic activities \u2013 its Single Market, customs union and currency. Yet its environmental policies, which have quietly accumulated since the early 1970s, address every aspect of environmental protection from air and water pollution, through to land-use planning and climate change. Together, they constitute one of the most comprehensive bodies of environmental protection law in existence anywhere in the world today. Yet the environment was barely mentioned in the referendum campaign and there is still very limited understanding of how the vote to leave will impact on this policy sector. \u00a0This report updates a detailed review of the academic evidence on how EU membership has influenced UK policies, systems of decision making and environmental quality that was produced to inform the debates leading up to the referendum (Burns et al. 2016). Our earlier work explored the possible effects of a vote either to remain or leave the EU, but now the result is clear, the demand for impartial, expert analysis of its environmental repercussions is even more important. \u00a0Will environmental standards rise or fall? Who will make significant decisions outside the EU? And what are the environmental effects likely to be? This report cuts through the technical complexity and the uncertainty associated with the UK\u2019s withdrawal from the EU by addressing these and other salient questions. It does so by transparently exploring the risks and opportunities that arise in two main scenarios:<\/em><\/p>\n