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What role does the Environment Agency have?

The role of the Environment Agency

The Environment Agency needs to understand how climate change will impact on our ability to protect air, land and water. We need to ensure it is embedded into all our activities from preparing for the potential impacts of flooding to managing our water resources.

Our role in adapting and mitigating against the effects of climate change is:
  • Administration of the EU Emissions Trading scheme in England and Wales. The companies within the scheme are allocated an annual emission target within the context of a national allocation plan.
  • Regulation of major industrial process sectors and waste management activities which account for around 40% of the UK's total greenhouse gas emissions. Improvements in process efficiency are sought through improvement programmes and permit reviews. All the permits that we issue need to take climate change into account.
  • River and tidal flood risk management, protecting and conserving water resources, improving water quality, making sure that aquatic biodiversity can adapt together with ensuring the appropriate treatment and management of waste.
  • Licensing abstractions from watercourses to balance the needs of people and the environment

Working with Regional Partners

In the region we are working with partners to implement the North West Climate Change Action Plan "Rising to the Challenge" which was launched in November 2006.

The action plan will be the first in a series to deliver the vision of a low carbon and well adapted North West by 2020. The plan has 27 actions to reduce emissions in the region and identify measures needed to adapt to the impact of climate change in the future. It focuses on the ability of regional organisations to enable, engage and encourage individual, groups, partnerships and businesses to play their part in delivering the vision through good practice and actions. We are also supporting local initiatives to tackle climate change and prepare for it's future impacts. An example of this is the Fylde low Waste and Energy (FloWE) this project was launched in 2006 to identify ways to conserver energy and reduce waste in the Borough Fylde, Lancashire.

  • FLoWE

    FLoWE aims to act as a hub to gather information and best practise on energy efficiency, renewable energy, waste, recycling, transport and climate change issues so that anyone in the Fylde area can obtain information relevant to them.