Environmental Law
Environmental Solicitor, Environmental Lawyer, Environment Planning and Regulatory Lawyer
The Sector
The environmental law sector encompasses legal careers in a variety of forms, including providing legal advice, prosecuting offenders for breaches of environmental law and advising on environmental law and policy initiatives. The main lead in the development of environmental law in the UK comes from the constant pressure to implement and enforce the increasing number of environmental directives issued by the EU. As a result, UK environmental law is subject to constant development and people working within the area need to be familiar with any proposed changes.
Issues and Trends
Water Management
The Water Framework Directive (WFD) has placed a new focus on the management of Europe’s water resources and will have implications for each member state’s legal regime for the regulation of water quality and quantity. The WFD poses new challenges to government, the water industry, and the agricultural sector and will impact on everyone who consumes or pollutes water.
Waste Management
The Landfill Directive 1999 requires member states to address the increasing quantities of biodegradable waste that is being disposed of by landfill, by setting targets for reduction or elimination. It also encourages waste prevention, recycling and recovery, and the use of recovered materials and energy, so that natural resources are used more efficiently. The targets will pose a significant challenge and local authorities must now change their approach to waste management. It is expected that there will be considerable activity in this area.
Climate Change
The Kyoto Protocol set strict greenhouse gas emission reduction targets. The UK introduced a climate change levy and launched the world’s first greenhouse gas emissions trading regime. Law will have a key role in regulating such processes.
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