News
Latest news and updates from the Environmental Policy and Economics practice.
Environment Improvement Plan 2023: Clean Air
When Defra published the 25 Year Environment Plan (25YEP) in 2018, Clean Air was the first of its 10 goals. Poor air quality has been identified as the greatest environmental threat to human health, in addition to the significant negative impacts air pollution has on ecosystems and biodiversity.
Environment Improvement Plan 2023
On 31st January, the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) published the much-anticipated revision of its cross-cutting framework strategy for the environment, the Environmental Improvement Plan 2023. The plan is the first revision of the 25-Year Environment Plan, required by law every five years under the Environment Act 2021.
Using cost effectiveness analysis to maximise the impact of climate investments
Global spending on climate change should increase 600% per year by 2030 to fund the transition required to keep temperature rises to 1.5°C. In this context, funders are getting increasingly interested in understanding which investments yield the best results by using structured assessments that enable the quantification of the impacts of their climate investments.
EU ambition to REACH zero pollution
Chemical substances number in their thousands and play a role in every aspect of our daily lives. As the chemical universe expands there is a need to continually improve our knowledge base and control of chemicals in the EU to limit their impacts on human health and the environment. Logika Group’s policy and economics practice are part of a consortium led by VVA who have been commissioned to assess a broader application of the generic approach to risk management of chemicals and possible options to reform the REACH authorisation and restriction provisions.
Dr Liz Nicol joins the Logika group of companies as a Principal Policy Consultant in its Environmental Policy & Economics Practice
Dr Liz Nicol has joined the Logika Group as a Principal consultant within the Environmental Policy & Economics team. Liz is an environmental toxicologist with over 8 years of experience specialising in understanding the source, fate and effects of chemicals in the environment.
The World Needs a New Global Science Panel for Chemical Pollution for Effective, Efficient and Coordinated Policy Action
The Logika Group supports the Royal Society of Chemistry’s call for the United Nations to take action against the global issue of chemical pollution by establishing an independent, intergovernmental science-policy platform for chemicals and waste management. Such a platform would enable coordination of science-driven international policy action to protect people and the planet from chemical pollution.
The Environment Act 2021
The UK’s new legal framework for protection of the natural environment, the Environment Act 2021 passed into UK law on 9th November. The Act has been long awaited and was broadly welcomed by environmental activists and the public as it gives the Government the power to set long-term, legally binding environmental targets.
Beth Sloan joins the Logika group of companies as an Assistant Policy Consultant in its Environmental Policy & Economics Practice
Beth is a recent 2021 graduate from the Environmental Technology MSc at Imperial College London, where she sepcalised in Global Environmental Change and Policy. Her research on this option involved devising solutions to environmental, economic and social sustainability issues in global food supply chains.
The Potential Wider Environmental Effects of Industrial Decarbonisation
In March 2021, BEIS published the UK Government’s Industrial Decarbonisation Strategy which sets out targets and actions to reduce industrial emissions to net zero by 2050. AQC has explored the challenges of industrial decarbonisation, the technologies coming forward, the potential for air quality and climate change trade-offs, and other cross media effects associated with the introduction of these technologies.
Are we there yet? 25 Years of Local Air Quality Management
The Environment Act was passed in 1995 and the first set of UK Air Quality Objectives adopted in 1997 so, using a three-year average, Local Air Quality Management (LAQM) is 25 years old this year. As Clean Air Day 2021 focusses on children’s health, it is worth considering what has improved over that period and what has not, and so what protection from air pollution a child born today can expect over the next 25 years.
Reversing the hierarchy: is zero pollution a realistic ambition?
The European Commission has recently adopted its EU Action Plan: “Towards Zero Pollution for Air, Water and Soil”, one of the main components of the European Green Deal and a key action in delivering its Zero Pollution Ambition. As EU Green Week approaches, Logika Group’s Marko Ristic-Smith and Lauren Armstrong reflect on what the Plan will mean in practice.
Cities breaking the ground on climate change action
On Earth Day 2021, and in a week of a number of significant announcements for climate including the UK’s new climate target for 2035, agreement on the European Climate Law, publication of further details on the EU’s green taxonomy for sustainable finance and the launch of the Glasgow Financial Alliance for Net Zero, Logika Group’s climate specialist, Natalia Reyna, reflects on the critical role that cities play in tackling climate change.