A report said that government targets for environmental protection, waste recycling and renewable energy would not be met without extra investment of around 1.7 billion per annum.
Source: Derek Smith and Paul Ekins, Public Spending on the Environment (Spending Round 2004), Policy Studies Institute (020 7468 0468)
Links: Report (pdf)
Date: 2003-Dec
The official Environment Agency published its annual report for 2002-03. It said that air and water quality were at their best level for decades, but that greater efforts were needed on recycling and illegal waste tipping.
Source: Annual Report and Accounts 2002-03, Environment Agency (08459 333111)
Links: Report (pdf) | Guardian report
Date: 2003-Dec
The Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs published its autumn performance report for 2003. It said that it was on course to meet its public service agreement targets, including those for reducing greenhouse gas emissions, tackling social exclusion in rural areas, and building a 'sustainable, competitive and safe' food chain.
Source: Autumn Performance Report 2003, Cm 6017, Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, TSO (0870 600 5522)
Links: Links to performance report (pdf) | DEFRA press release
Date: 2003-Nov
The Water Act was given a third reading and granted Royal assent. The Act built upon existing legislation to further the sustainable use of water resources; strengthen the voice of water consumers; increase the opportunity for competition in the supply of water; and promote water conservation.
Source: Water Act 2003, TSO (0870 600 5522) | House of Commons Hansard, Debate 10 November 2003, columns 21-140, TSO (0870 600 5522)
Links: Text of Act | Hansard | DEFRA press release | Ofwat press release
Date: 2003-Nov
The Scottish Executive published its programme for the environment and sustainable development. It said it wanted a Scotland that delivered sustainable development; that put environmental concerns at the heart of public policy; and that secured environmental justice for all of Scotland s communities.
Source: A Partnership for a Better Scotland: Partnership agreement, Scottish Executive (0131 556 8400)
Links: Report (pdf) | Report | SE press release
Date: 2003-Nov
The government responded to recommendations in a report by MPs on the work of the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs in 2002-03.
Source: The Departmental Annual Report 2003: Government Reply to the Committee's Report, Thirteenth Special Report (Session 2002-03), HC 1175, House of Commons Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Select Committee, TSO (0870 600 5522)
Links: Response | Report | DEFRA annual report (pdf links)
Date: 2003-Oct
A report described progress made in tackling environmental issues in Wales, and identified where further work was needed. Improvements highlighted included an improvement in bathing water quality through investment in better sewage treatment; a reduction by 50 per cent in litter on Welsh beaches since 1997; and the successful take-up of the Welsh Assembly s agri-environmental scheme.
Source: The State of the Welsh Environment 2003, Countryside Council for Wales (0845 1306229), Environment Agency and Forestry Commission Wales
Links: WAG press release
Date: 2003-Oct
A think-tank report argued that the balance of evidence supported a benign enhanced greenhouse effect, and that the case for mandatory greenhouse gas reductions depended on unrealistic assumptions.
Source: Robert Bradley, Climate Alarmism Reconsidered, Institute of Economic Affairs (020 7799 8900)
Links: Report (pdf) | IEA press release
Date: 2003-Oct
A report argued that business could and would innovate towards a cleaner, greener economy - but only if the market rewarded it for doing so. It said the problem was that governments were 'cowed into taking the teeth out of social and environmental policies' by the negative lobbying of corporate public affairs teams and trade associations.
Source: Simon Caulkin and Joanna Collins, The Private Life of Public Affairs, Green Alliance (020 7233 7433)
Links: Summary (pdf)
Date: 2003-Sep
A report argued that, despite the importance attached to well-being, little thought and few resources went into tacking the underlying environmental causes of ill health. It urged government to take a wider look at public health policy and consider how a focus on healthy people through healthy environments could reap 'huge social, environmental and economic benefits'.
Source: Charlotte Marples (ed.), A Green Bill of Health: New agenda for health and environment policy, Green Alliance (020 7233 7433)
Links: Summary (pdf)
Date: 2003-Sep
The Water Bill was given a second reading. The Bill would introduce a new regulatory authority, which would be required to take account of official guidance on social and environmental matters. The House of Commons Library produced a research briefing on the Bill.
Source: House of Commons Hansard, Debate 8 September 2003, columns 56-137, TSO (0870 600 5522) | Elena Ares and Ross Young, The Water Bill [HL], Research Paper 03/67, House of Commons Library (web publication only)
Links: Hansard | Text of Bill (pdf) | HOC Briefing (pdf)
Date: 2003-Sep
A report argued that environmental refugees should be officially recognised and protected by the international community. Such a move was an essential response to a 'mounting and unavoidable' crisis.
Source: Molly Conisbee and Andrew Simms, Environmental Refugees: The case for recognition, New Economics Foundation, available from Central Books (020 8986 5488)
Links: Report (pdf) | NEF press release | Guardian report
Date: 2003-Sep
Environmental campaigners called on all political parties to incorporate clear population stabilisation and reduction policies in their next general election manifestos. They said that if the current rate of increase continued, the United Kingdom population would reach 71 million by 2050. They proposed an alternative population policy designed to achieve a reduction to 52.5 million by the same year - which they estimated would mean 10 million fewer vehicles on the roads, and a reduction of 31 million tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions a year.
Source: Press release 23 September 2003, Optimum Population Trust (07976 370221)
Links: OPT press release | Observer report
Date: 2003-Sep
A think-tank report said that the 'Kyoto approach' to international climate policy was flawed, and called for a radically different approach based on social justice and science. It argued that global agreements on a safe level of greenhouse gas emissions, and on convergence to 'equal ownership' of the atmosphere, were necessary to cut global warming.
Source: Tony Grayling (ed.), New Economy: Beyond Kyoto, Institute for Public Policy Research, available from Blackwells (01865 244083)
Links: IPPR press release | Guardian report
Date: 2003-Aug
Two reports provided a framework designed to help decision-makers - including planners, businesses and government - manage their activities in the face of climate change. In a foreword to the report for local authorities, government ministers described climate change as 'a real and immediate threat'.
Source: Robert Willows and Richenda Connell (eds.), Climate Adaptation: Risk, uncertainty and decision-making - Technical report, UK Climate Impacts Programme (01865 432076) | Climate Change and Local Communities - How prepared are you?: Adaptation guide for local authorities in the UK, UK Climate Impacts Programme
Links: Climate adaptation report | Local authorities report (pdf) | Defra press release
Date: 2003-Jul
Researchers said that local environmental policy makers were increasingly losing out to their colleagues involved in economic development, as the government shifted its focus from green issues to regional growth.
Source: David Gibbs and Andrew Jonas, Governance and Regulation in Local Environmental Policy Making, Economic and Social Research Council (01793 413000)
Links: ESRC Press Release
Date: 2003-May
The government published a strategy document for 2003-06, covering key environmental objectives. These included: promoting sustainable management and the prudent use of natural resources; increasing accessibility of services for rural people; promoting a low-carbon economy; reducing the environmental cost of the food chain; and reducing waste and promoting recycling (enabling 25 per cent of household waste to be recycled or composted by 2005-06).
Source: Our Strategy 2003-2006, Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (08459 556000)
Links: Report (pdf) | Summary (pdf) | DEFRA press release
Date: 2003-May
The government announced a package of fiscal measures in the Budget which it said would promote environmental protection, including changes to fuel duties; enhanced capital allowances for water efficient and energy-saving technologies; and reforms to improve waste management, including higher landfill tax rates. But campaigners called the measures 'deeply unambitious and disappointing'.
Source: Budget 2003: Building a Britain of economic strength and social justice - Economic and Fiscal Strategy Report, and Financial Statement and Budget Report, HC 500, TSO (0870 600 5522) | House of Commons Hansard, Debates 9.4.03, columns 271-372, TSO | Finance Bill 2003, TSO | Press release 9.4.03, Friends of the Earth (020 7490 1555)
Links: Report | Technical annex (pdf) | Budget speech | Hansard | HMT press release | Finance Bill | Friends of the Earth press release
Date: 2003-Apr
A report tracked the development of quality of life indicators, and looked at how they could be given a more central role in influencing policy. It said that fewer than half of all local authorities in England and Wales had used the indicators, and that there were examples of authorities starting to use them and then discarding them.
Source: Sarah Higginson, Florian Sommer and Alan Terry, Making Indicators Count: Using quality of life indicators in local governance, New Economics Foundation, available from Central Books (020 8986 5488)
Links: Report (Word file)
Date: 2003-Apr
A Water Bill was published, designed to update the framework for abstraction licensing, promote greater water conservation and planning for the future by water companies, and help to build a more stable and transparent regulatory environment. A new regulatory authority would be required to take account of official guidance on social and environmental matters.
Source: Water Bill [HL], Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, TSO (0870 600 5522)
Links: Text of Bill (pdf) | Defra press release | Water UK press release
Date: 2003-Feb
An official advisory body published a comprehensive policy agenda on environmental issues and sustainable development.
Source: Agenda: Where Next for Sustainable Development?, Sustainable Development Commission (020 7944 4964)
Links: Report (pdf) | SDC press release (pdf)
Date: 2003-Feb
A report said that the United Kingdom was expected to meet its Kyoto target for greenhouse gases, provided it joined the European Union emissions trading scheme.
Source: UK Energy and the Environment, January 2003, Cambridge Econometrics (01223 460760)
Links: No link
Date: 2003-Feb
An official advisory body said that the government s climate change programme was in danger of failing to deliver on its key goal, unless immediate action were taken. It said that, without further measures, the United Kingdom would fall well short of the domestic goal of reducing carbon dioxide emissions by 20 per cent from 1990 levels by 2010. But it also said that the Kyoto Protocol target, of reducing total greenhouse gas emissions by 12.5 per cent from 1990 levels over the period 2008-12, would be achieved.
Source: UK Climate Change Programme: Policy audit, Sustainable Development Commission (020 7944 4964)
Links: Report (pdf)
Date: 2003-Feb
A report examined how government policy could be affected by climate change, in areas such as flood management, water resources, agriculture, biodiversity and animal health.
Source: The Impacts of Climate Change: Implications for Defra, In House Policy Consultancy/Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (08459 556000)
Links: Report (pdf) | Press release
Date: 2003-Feb
The government published its response to the 22nd Report of the Royal Commission on Environmental Pollution (on energy policy and climate change). It accepted the recommendation that the United Kingdom should aim to reduce carbon dioxide emissions by around 60 per cent from current levels by 2050.
Source: The UK Government Response to the Royal Commission on Environmental Pollution s Twenty-Second Report: Energy - The Changing Climate, Cm 5766, Department for Environment, TSO (0870 600 5522)
Links: Response (pdf) | Defra press release
Date: 2003-Feb
A national survey of small and medium-sized enterprises, conducted across a range of business sectors, revealed a widespread lack of environmental awareness.
Source: How Green are Small Businesses? A snapshot of environmental awareness and practice in small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs), Environment Agency (08459 333111), Scottish Environment Protection Agency, Environment and Heritage Service Northern Ireland, and Small Business Service
Links: Report (pdf)
Date: 2003-Jan
The Labour Party issued a consultation document on its policies for promoting a better quality of life (in particular through environmental measures).
Source: Enhancing the Quality of Life, Labour Party (08705 900200)
Links: Consultation Document (pdf)
Date: 2003-Jan