The Environment Act: an explainer

What is the Environment Act?

The Environment Act is the Government’s landmark piece of legislation designed to “protect and preserve the planet for generations to come” and to help the government reach its goal of meeting net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050.

It was first introduced into Parliament in October 2019 as the Environment Bill, becoming law on 9 November 2021 after long and heated discussions between MPs and Peers.

The Environment Bill and Air Pollution

The Bill was an opportunity for the government to commit to a new target for fine particulate matter (PM2.5) – the tiny particles of solids and liquids in the air, such as dust or dirt that stem from domestic wood and coal burning, industry and road transport.

The current legal limits for PM2.5 are not fit for purpose, being four times higher than the level recommended by the World Health Organization (WHO).

What happened in Parliament?

Asthma + Lung UK worked tirelessly with MPs and Peers from across Parliament to get an explicit target for PM2.5 written into the Bill itself. This target would be significantly more radical than the current target for PM2.5 in UK law, and would align with recommendations made by the WHO in 2005.

In September 2021, we were pleased to see that the House of Lords amended the Bill to include this PM2.5 target and call for it to be reached by 2030 at the latest. However, disappointingly, the House of Commons voted to remove this amendment and the Lords were then unsuccessful at reinserting it into the Bill.

This meant that the Environment Act was passed into law on 9 November 2021 without a specific target for PM2.5 written into it.

Despite this, the Act does commit the government to setting a new target before the end of October 2022.

What next?

The government set out its proposals for new PM2.5 targets in March 2022. These proposed to wait until 2040 to reduce levels of toxic air across the UK. This is simply not good enough.

We know that we can reach the proposed target of 10 µg/m3 by 2030 at the latest. We must achieve this in order to ensure that we are able to continuously reduce levels of pollution and help everyone to breathe clean air in the future.

Now is the time to act

The government is accepting responses to the consultation on its proposed targets until 27 June 2022. We need you to make your voices heard and tell the government that we cannot wait until 2040.

Find out how you can get involved with our work and help us campaign for better lung health.