Our shared Mission for Sustainable Wellbeing
Recent decades have seen environmental challenges escalate to the point of crisis across the planet. In the UK, the situation is no different: climate change, biodiversity loss, and pollution all have stark consequences for people across the country.
Transforming the UK for the good of people, the economy, and the environment is a matter of public service. This era of crisis must end, beginning a transition towards a sustainable society with thriving people, a healthy economy, and a flourishing environment.
This report outlines sets out our recommendations for the UK Government for 2024-2029, representing a systemic and transformative approach to change across environmental fields.
We can accelerate together towards a better future for the UK: one without environmental crisis or communities left behind in the transition, creating a country with thriving people, a healthy economy, and a flourishing environment.
Chapters
More ways to get started with policy
- If you want to develop your own skills in environmental policy, we provide short courses, case studies, and briefings on key skills and the latest developments on our dedicated policy skills and training page.
- To stay up-to-date with the latest developments, learn more with Essential Environment, which provides policy and regulatory monitoring through a free monthly bulletin, articles on the implications of the most important policy changes, and horizon scanning briefings.
- For all the latest reports, briefings, analysis, and updates on our work in environmental policy, you can visit our main policy page.
- If you want to learn more about environmental policy or the training we offer for members, please contact Joseph Lewis, Head of Policy (joseph@the-ies.org).
If you want to support the work of the IES to stand up for science and nature, become an affiliate, or if you’re an environmental professional, join the IES.
Our recommendations for the UK Government
- Transform the UK through a new Mission for Sustainable Wellbeing. Begin the transition from years of crisis towards a sustainable society where people and nature thrive.
- Secure a world-leading governance framework for air quality, raising the ambition of existing strategies and targets, and addressing governance gaps.
- Take a holistic approach to the use of land across the UK to secure multiple benefits for communities and our natural world.
- Adopt a long-term approach to water that acknowledges humans as part of the water system, prioritising strategic network solutions that work with nature.
- Strengthen leadership and governance on the marine and coastal environment, informed by systems thinking for a sustainable ocean.
- Commit to a ‘transformative change’ approach to reshaping unsustainable systems, addressing climate change, biodiversity loss, and environmental pollution together.
- Change the narrative on nature. From the highest levels of government, make sure we are thinking about and engaging with nature in a way that reflects its value.
- Promote a culture of re-use and repair across the UK, embedding the circular economy in decision making and engaging the public on the practical steps everyone can take.
- Champion local authorities to deliver for the environment by clarifying their responsibilities and increasing their powers and resources.
- Create a less adversarial approach to planning and environmental consenting by developing processes which are coherent, flexible, and accessible.
- Embed Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) across all types of education and at all levels, from primary school through to the workforce, with a focus on solutions.
Find out more
To catch up with the latest policy developments in the UK, you can read our briefings on policy affecting clean air, water policy and land and nature. To support effective policy in practice, join our Environmental Policy Implementation Community (EPIC).
If you want to support the work of the IES, you can become an affiliate, or if you’re a professional in the environmental sector working with science, consider joining the IES.
Header image credit: © philipbird123 | Adobe Stock
