EU membership has been a crucial factor in shaping UK environmental policy on air and water pollution, and biodiversity, according to the House of Commons Environmental Audit Committee’s report on EU and UK Environmental Policy.

The report is the outcome of an inquiry by the Select Committee to assess the extent to which EU environmental objectives and policies have succeeded in tackling environmental issues in the UK.

It was undertaken  to inform the debate ahead of the upcoming referendum on EU membership .

Mary Creagh MP, Chair, said:

"The UK has cleaned up its act since we were dubbed the 'dirty man of Europe' in the seventies. EU environmental laws have played a key part, and mean we bathe on cleaner beaches, drive more fuel-efficient cars and can hold Government to account on air pollution."

The Committee heard that EU environmental policy development has been a two-way street. On the one hand, EU membership has given the UK a platform to pursue its environmental objectives internationally, and influence the strategic, long-term direction of policy. On the other hand, EU membership has ensured that environmental action in the UK has been taken on a faster timetable, and more thoroughly than would otherwise have been the case.

Despite the UK’s relatively good performance, the report said that the majority of stakeholders to the inquiry took the view that environmental standards could be improved if the UK Government took a more ambitious approach to implementation. WWF-UK and the Wildlife Trusts noted under-implementation, a lack of ambition and excessive complexity in respect of the Water Framework Directive.  The Institute of European Environmental Policy argued that the main issue with implementation in the UK tended to be in areas which involved significant infrastructure expenditure, citing the case of the Urban Waste Water Treatment Directive.

The report states:

“The UK’s membership of the EU has been a crucial factor in the shaping of its environmental policy since it joined the Union in the 1970s. The overwhelming view of our witnesses was that EU membership has been positive for the UK environment. None of the witnesses to our inquiry, even those who made criticisms, made an environmental case for leaving the European Union.” ….

“The overwhelming majority of our witnesses also believed that the UK’s membership of the EU has improved the UK’s approach to environmental protection and ensured that the UK environment has been better protected.”

The inquiry heard concerns that a UK outside the EU would still have to follow some EU environmental legislation, but with significantly less ability to influence how it is developed. Ministers told the Committee that a vote to leave would result in a "long and tortuous negotiation". Business representatives felt a leave vote could remove long-term certainty. 

The Committee also noted that many witnesses implied that if the UK were free to set its own environmental standards, it would set them at a less stringent level than has been imposed by the EU. 

EAC Committee Chair Mary Creagh MP continued:

"Inside the EU we can influence and improve EU environmental law. Our voice at the Paris climate change conference was louder because we were part of a club of 28 countries."

"Environmental problems don’t respect borders. When it comes to protecting our natural environment and dealing with global problems like climate change, the overwhelming evidence is that EU membership has improved the UK’s approach to the environment and ensured that the UK’s environment has been better protected."

Click here to download the full report