WiredGov Newswire (news from other organisations)
Printable version E-mail this to a friend

Ambitious strategy launched to protect environment and tackle climate change

The Environment Agency today set out an ambitious five year plan to clean up rivers, defend more properties against flooding, reduce emissions, discharges and waste from industry, and tackle the causes and consequences of climate change.

Chief Executive Dr Paul Leinster today unveiled the Environment Agency’s 2010-2015 corporate strategy at its annual conference in London and outlined plans to:

  • Protect an extra 200,000 homes and businesses in England and Wales from flooding
  • Improve 9,000 miles of waterways – the equivalent of the distance between the UK and Australia
  • Continue to reduce serious pollution incidents by five per cent every year
  • Prevent inappropriate development in areas at risk of flooding
  • Support low-carbon technologies, including renewables such as wind, tidal and solar, carbon capture and storage, and nuclear power
  • Make it cheaper and easier for businesses to comply with environmental standards
  • Continue to reduce the Environment Agency’s own carbon footprint by over 30 per cent.

The plan is the organisation’s commitment to protect and improve the environment for communities across England and Wales, and sets out how it will play its part in tackling the threat of climate change.

The government’s environmental watchdog today also highlighted numerous environmental improvements across England and Wales in the past decade, in a detailed analysis of the current state of the environment:

  • The amount of waste produced by companies regulated by the Environment Agency has reduced by 14 per cent since 2005
  • 156,000 properties have been protected against flood since 2004
  • Emissions of sulphur oxides (which cause health problems and acid rain) have reduced by 76 per cent and particulate emissions (which cause health problems) have reduced by 37 per cent since 1998
  • Otters and salmon have returned to many rivers for first time for over 100 years, thanks in part to a halving of serious pollution incidents since 2000.

Speaking at the conference, Dr Paul Leinster said: “We have delivered significant achievements over the past five years. Less waste is going to landfill, more properties are protected against flooding, pollution incidents have halved since 2000, and there are more fish and wildlife in lakes and rivers.

 
“However, climate change is already affecting the UK and the challenges we face as a result are only going to get tougher and more properties could be at increased flood risk. We expect the country’s population to grow by 16 million by 2050, adding further pressure on limited water supplies and waste treatment facilities.

“Our new plans set out our approach to protect more people from flooding, clean up their local rivers, and help businesses reduce the resources they use. We all have our part to play to help protect the environment for future generations.”

In its detailed analysis of the state of the environment to support its new strategy, the Environment Agency also revealed that the number of properties in England and Wales at the highest risk of flooding could increase by over 60 per cent from 560,000 today to over 900,000 by 2035 if investment in flood defences does not increase annually. Over the next five years, the Environment Agency has pledged to build new and maintain existing defences, continue to restrict development in flood plains and create new wetlands and coastal habitats to prevent flooding.

More than 330 million tonnes of waste is currently produced by the UK each year and more than half comes from businesses and the construction sector. The Environment Agency estimates that UK companies could save up to £1 billion, divert 17 million tonnes of waste from landfill, save 14 million tonnes of raw material and avoid greenhouse gas emissions equivalent to two million tonnes of carbon dioxide over the next decade.

New figures from the Environment Agency show that the number of cases of serious pollution in England and Wales dropped 13 per cent from 827 in 2007 to 723 in 2008 – down 44 per cent from 1,854 major incidents recorded in 2001. Incidents of serious pollution are now at their lowest for seven years.

Last year, almost 97 per cent of bathing waters in England and Wales passed quality standards, compared to just three-quarters in 1990. The government’s environmental watchdog is also continuing its efforts to improve bathing water, rivers, lakes and groundwater to meet challenging EU standards for water quality.

The Environment Agency is also continuing to reduce its own carbon footprint. It has already reduced staff mileage by 8.9 million miles in the two years to March 2008. The organisation is also aiming to install approximately 80 wind turbines on its land, saving around 224,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide per year, generating enough energy to power around 88,000 homes, in addition to providing income to the taxpayer.

Spotlight on women at Serco – Anita’s story