The UK’s key environmental targets

The UK government and Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs (Defra) have outlined a series of new environmental targets. We analyse their newest proposals.

What’s on the agenda?

Defra have announced a series of legally binding targets which, if delivered, will prevent further biodiversity loss, clean up air and rivers, and encourage further action to be taken against climate change. The targets were met with criticism when announced in October 2022 since they missed original publication deadlines and lacked clear detail on how the targets would be achieved. The full Environmental Improvement Place will arrive January 2023.

Some key targets include:

• Halving residual waste per person by 2042.
• Halt species populations decline by 2030 and increase populations by at least 10 per cent to surpass current levels by 2042.
• Crack down on harmful pollutants from sewers and abandoned mines.
• Improve water consumption per household.
• Deliver net zero ambitions.
• Increase tree and woodland cover to 16.5 per cent of total land area in England by 2050.
• Cut down PM2.5 exposure to humans.
• Restore 70 per cent of designated features in the UK’s Marine Protected Areas
• Restore or create 500,000 hectares of wildlife-rich habitat.

The targets are designed to assist broader, global goals that the UK is aligned with, such as the “30 by 30” pledge signed at COP15 in which countries across the globe committed to protecting 30 per cent of land and ocean by 2030. Government’s who fail to reach clear biodiversity targets could face tough penalties and more stringent observation in the future.