The year ahead in UK environmental policy

30 January 2026

This month’s episode of the Planet Possible podcast explores the topics that will be making the headlines in Westminster and the devolved nations in 2026

The first 2026 episode of the Planet Possible podcast looks ahead to explore what some of the big policy news is likely to be from around the UK.

But if we look back for just a moment, 2025 was the hottest year on record with major droughts, wildfires and flooding across the globe. In the UK, clean energy met 100% of British demand for record periods, but fossil fuel emissions also rose. The water sector repeatedly hit the headlines for the much-anticipated Independent Water Commission report headed by Sir Jon Cunliffe, with 88 recommendations on how to improve the way water is managed across England and Wales.

And from a policy and legislative perspective, the end of the year brought movement on the Planning and Infrastructure Bill and an updated Environmental Improvement Plan. So it's fair to say climate, nature and water were all on the agenda.

Joining host Niki Roach to discuss what 2026 will bring is Ruth Chambers OBE, a senior fellow at Green Alliance, an independent think tank focused on ambitious leadership for the environment. She is also an honorary professor of practice at the UCL Centre for Law and the Environment and has made the Ends Power List of high-impact environment professionals for the last four years running.

If you’d like to listen along, you can find the podcast episode here, on Spotify, Apple Podcasts or your favourite platform. Follow the podcast to stay updated on our monthly deep dives into pressing environmental challenges.

Now, over to Niki and Ruth...

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Niki Roach: As a proud geographer, I want to take a geographical lens to this conversation, Ruth. So as we work away around the UK, what can we expect from the Welsh government in 2026 for the environment?

Ruth Chambers: I'm delighted to start with Wales because often the other nations are somewhat overlooked in our very Westminster-focused world. But also I'm Welsh, so I can't think of a better country to start with. So thanks for picking that one to go first. And I guess there are two big things on the horizon for Wales in 2026. The first is Senedd [Welsh Parliament] elections. So there are going to be elections in May to elect a brand new Senedd using a different system. The Senedd is increasing in size. It's going up from 60 to 96 members, and I think it's fair to anticipate that there will be big changes politically.

So the whole context in which policy and law is made in Wales is going to be different after May. But before May, we've got a really important thing to get done, and to make sure that this happens before the elections. And that's an environmental governance bill, that the Welsh government has been working on with members of the Senedd and stakeholders for the best part of two years now.

It's a late but very welcome guest to the Brexit Party, because what it does is close that governance gap that arose on the environment when the UK left the EU, and it's going to allow a future Welsh government to set nature recovery targets. It's going to set up a new watchdog, which will be called, and forgive me, because this doesn't roll off the tongue, the Office of Environmental Governance Wales, or OEGW for short, and it's going to embed environmental principles into Welsh law. It's going through its final stages over the next few weeks, and as I say, we really hope – well, in fact, it must pass before those elections in May.

NR: So, a busy start for Wales, and I hadn't appreciated that there was such change to the Senedd, so that's really interesting. I mean, I guess as a policy professional, Ruth, Wales always seems like it's a little out of step with Westminster, and sometimes very much ahead. Things like the Future Generations Act that we've talked about on the podcast, the fact that they've implemented Schedule 3 for sustainable drainage. So, I guess just reflecting on where Wales is environmentally, as opposed to the rest of the devolved nations and to Westminster, what are your kind of reflections on that as we look ahead?

RC: Well, I think there's a lot of hope, because I have to say that working with the Welsh government on this bill, it's been a very different experience to when we work with the Westminster government on bills. They've taken a really collaborative approach, and I think that that should be borne out when we see the final proposals that pass. However, on the other side, we've got to remember that Wales is one of the most nature-depleted countries, not just in the UK, but in the world. So we really do have our work cut out. And while this bill is great, all it really will do is give future Welsh ministers the power and some duties to set the targets. It really will be over to them to make sure that the targets match the pace of change and action that's needed to restore precious species to Wales's natural environment, and also to ensure that we then play that catch-up game with the rest of the UK, which has had these sorts of powers for a little bit longer.

NR: And are you hearing from your connections that there is ambition in Wales to do those sorts of things and to be able to set some big targets? Because when I think about Wales – I've had very, very many happy holidays in Wales, and it's beautiful, lots of agriculture, and it's amazing to me that it's as nature-depleted as it is because you don't think about it in that light really. So I'm interested in the ambition that you're hearing coming out of the Welsh government.

RC: There's definitely ambition, otherwise I don't think we'd have made so much progress on this bill, but this Welsh government is not going to be the next Welsh government. So what none of us know yet is who is going to be in charge of the next Welsh government. The sense of people working in Wales is that it may well be some kind of coalition government, but probably the Welsh Labour Party won't be running that government.

Again, who's to say really? The polls are what they are at the moment and the elections still feel quite a long way out. But quite a few of the members of the Senedd that have been very pro-environment and have been either part of the current government or part of the Senedd, they're not standing again. So I think there will be quite a fundamental change in the makeup of the new government and the new Senedd. So I think we'll all have our work cut out to make sure that ambition remains high on the agenda. And it's certainly something that we've been doing, as this bill has worked its way through the Senedd, to try and futureproof it as much as possible, anticipating that political uncertainty that lies ahead.

NR: Let's think about Northern Ireland if we can. We don't talk about Northern Ireland as much as we probably should on Planet Possible, something I'm keen to correct in 2026. But tell us a little bit, Ruth, from your perspective about what's on the horizon and also if there's any sort of seeds of positivity and hope that you've already seen over last year.

RC: Let's start with the politics first. So there are going to be elections in Northern Ireland, but not until 2027. So there's a bit more time in this mandate to make some progress.

The environment department in Northern Ireland is called DAERA and the minister in charge of it, Andrew Muir, is from one of the smaller parties, Alliance. But when he was appointed as minister, he really hit the ground running and is very enthusiastic and wants to achieve as much as he can for the Northern Ireland environment within this mandate.

However, the politics of Northern Ireland make that perhaps more complicated than otherwise it should be. But he's certainly doing his best and he's really trying to drive as much change forward as possible. One of the things that he commissioned, one of the first things that he did when he was appointed as environment minister, is to have an independent panel review how environmental governance was working in Northern Ireland. And I was lucky enough to be on a stakeholder group that supported that work. It was led by an academic from Queen's University Belfast, called Viviane Gravey. And it reported a few months ago and it produced, I think, over 30 recommendations for how environmental governance and protection could be improved and tightened.

We haven't got time to go through them all, but I'll just pick out a couple. One of them is very welcome, but it's not new: it's for an independent environmental protection agency to be set up in Northern Ireland because there isn't one. And in fact, it's one of the few countries in the world that doesn't have an independent environment agency. It's embedded within the department of environment. But it's the minister himself that said that he wants to see that independence come forward.

Now, it feels like there isn't either the political support or the time for that to progress in substance before the elections in 2027. But this review has followed a long line of other reviews that's really said to Northern Ireland governments present and future that this is something that is needed and popular. So hopefully we'll see that coming forward in the future.

Another recommendation which I thought was quite interesting was for an environmental audit committee to be set up in the Northern Ireland Assembly because there isn't one. There is one in Westminster, it's been quite long running and it's been one of the more successful committees in holding not just the environment department, but other ministers to account. So it would be great to see that in the Northern Ireland Assembly.

And then something else that's happened recently is a new statement which guides all decisions of the executives of the Northern Ireland government, whatever those decisions are about, to take account of environmental principles. This is now reaching the final furlong and it's before the [Committee for Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs], which is the environmental scrutiny committee in the Assembly, for them to have a final look at. That should conclude in the spring, and once that statement and policy goes live, then it should start to inform policy making across the board in Northern Ireland.

And that really matters: to go back to what you said in the introduction about the water environment, because the Northern Ireland water environment is in a dire state. The Office for Environmental Protection is investigating various environmental laws which don't seem to be working, and we all know that Loch Neagh is in a terrible state which is impacting the environment and the economy.

NR: there's a huge amount there. I'm interested, given that so many of your recommendations talk about better governance and oversight, is that just across water? Is that the whole of the environment in Northern Ireland? And I suppose maybe a follow up is, why has it been lacking do you think, Ruth? How have we got to where we've got to?

I know that's a huge question but I'd be interested in just a few of your reflections as to why Northern Ireland is so out of step – if that's not too strong a statement – with the other devolved administrations?

RC: I think the politics plays a part in that. The environment hasn't always been a top priority issue, because in Northern Ireland other issues have inevitably and rightly been front and centre of political discourse and discussions. But also that lack of independent environmental regulation has led to dysfunction in the way that laws are applied and monitored. So I'm not saying that companies have been allowed to get away with bad practice or with law breaking, but there are elements of that definitely happening.

And I think it's been more prevalent in the water environment, particularly in relation to the performance of the water company and that sort of thing. Also, resourcing is a big factor here. And again, when resources are being decided across the government, the environment hasn't always been a top priority area for the Northern Ireland government, but also other governments in the UK.

So if in the future we can bring more resourcing and more independent regulation for the water environment, but also for other areas, I think that will make a difference. It won't be a panacea, but it'll take us towards a better direction of travel.

NR: It's one to watch. We did a lovely episode a couple of years ago now with Paddy Brow from Northern Ireland Water, all about the Living with Water project in Belfast. That was fascinating and he talked at some length around the challenges of Loch Neagh and of Belfast Loch, actually, and the amount of storm overflows that they were having to deal with (I think 300 were going into the water), but also the challenges of the shellfish waters that they’ve got and the need for nutrients. So trying to get that balance right between taking [nutrient] load out, but not taking too much.

Okay, let's keep moving round in a clockwise direction. That feels the right way to go. So let's head to Scotland. What are you thinking about Scotland and what should we expect to see over the next 12 months or so, Ruth?

RC: So, again, in Scotland, there are elections in May, so there's going to be a political change and a new government coming in after that, who may or may not have the same priorities as the current government. But again, before those elections take hold, a really important piece of legislation is going through the Scottish Parliament, the Natural Environment (Scotland) Bill. And that's going to do a number of important things.

So the first thing is it will give the Scottish government in the future a requirement to set biodiversity targets a bit like the Welsh bill will do for the Welsh government. That's really important and broadly the same approach is being taken. It will also then establish Environmental Standards Scotland, which is the equivalent body to the Office for Environmental Protection, as the independent monitor of whether or not the government is on track to meet those targets.

So that's a new role for Environmental Standards Scotland that needs a change in the law, but it also needs to be properly resourced. And the Natural Environment (Scotland) Bill will also change the way in which national parks aims are set and in which they are governed. So that's one to watch too. There are also provisions on deer management, but I'm less across those. What it doesn't do though is set up any new national parks. I think a few months ago, there was a proposal or an idea that a new national park might be set up in Dumfries and Galloway in the south of Scotland. But my understanding is that's now gone on to, let's say, a back burner.

And it always amazes me that Scotland, with the richness of natural and cultural heritage that it has, only has two national parks, Loch Lomond and the Trossachs and the Cairngorms. And all of those other wonderful areas that you might find yourself in, whether it's in the Hebridean Islands or the far northwest of Scotland, they're not designated as national parks.

NR: I mean, where would you start really? Because quite frankly, most of the country would seem to qualify, but that feels to me to be a missed opportunity. I had no idea there were only two national parks. And I mean, Dumfries and Galloway is beautiful. There's a kind of a dark skies designation down there, certainly, because again, this is just a tour of my holidays really, Ruth. I've had a lovely holiday there too, it's spectacular. I had no idea there weren't national parks. Do you think that's driven by the drive for growth and the concern about national parks impeding economic growth, or is it something else going on there?

RC: I don't think it's that. Who's to say? Only really the Scottish government, which is the body that ultimately will decide those sorts of things, will know. But there's a long-standing reticence to develop more national parks in Scotland. I wonder if it's more to do with things like resourcing, because national parks are not expensive, but they do impose a little bit more need on the public purse.

But then on the other hand, if you look at figures coming out from the South Downs National Park the other day, in terms of the economic benefit that that designation has had on the area, they are extraordinary. So these areas are not just there to protect landscape and wildlife and cultural heritage, they're actually significant economic growth drivers in their localities. So it feels to me like a missed opportunity. But hopefully that door isn't shut for good.

NR: Okay, so we've done three. Let's move ourselves finally to Westminster. We talked about 2025: there were some heavyweight bits of policy and legislation shaping up and coming out: planning and infrastructure, the Independent Water Commission too, that I guess are on my mind, and the impact on biodiversity net gain. But what can we expect? And what are you keeping an eye out for in 2026, Ruth?

RC: So there's quite a lot on the horizon. And as always, with the UK government, there'll be a lot on the horizon that we just don't know about yet. So a need to remain vigilant will certainly be there.

Maybe let's start with the Environmental Improvement Plan. So this is a legal requirement and it was updated at the end of 2025. And it's the delivery plan for the whole of government and how it's going to deliver legally binding targets on air and water quality, nature restoration and waste reduction.

But it's broader than that. It's got goals in relation to reducing chemicals, pollution, improving access to nature and so forth. And the previous plan had been criticised, maybe not because of the what, but because of the how, in that it was a narrative document that lacked a lot of specificity on how the actions and the goals were going to be considered.

So what the government's now done is it's published 13 detailed delivery plans alongside the Environmental Improvement Plan, that to be honest, we're still getting to grips with and reading the detail of. But it's those delivery plans that we'll all be looking to see implemented to make sure that that direction of travel towards environmental improvement is delivered.

Are they good enough? Well, not in their entirety, no. There are gaps and frailties in all of them, but at least it gives us something more to get our teeth into. One of the things that the Environmental Improvement Plan alluded to was an action plan on PFAS chemicals pollution. We understand that that should be coming out maybe at the time that this podcast goes live, maybe a little bit after that. So that's definitely one to look out for because PFAS chemicals, otherwise known as ‘forever’ chemicals, they've been looked at by the Environmental Audit Committee. There's been a huge amount of investigative journalism and court cases involving PFAS pollution in soils or in water or indeed our bodies.

So I think this is really just the start of – well, hopefully just the start of – a lot more systemic and serious action by the government to tackle that. You mentioned planning reform in the introduction. The Planning and Infrastructure Bill has now got royal assent, but it will have to be implemented through guidance, through regulations and so forth. So I imagine that planning reform and implementation will still take up a lot of bandwidth for all of us in the year that lies ahead.

And then in February, there's an international gathering. It's called IPBES, the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services. It's coming to the UK for the first time in a long time. It's very technical, but soft power lies in technical gatherings on biodiversity. And I think the hope is that there will be something positive on biodiversity and business coming out of that. So that might be one to watch. It's in Manchester and the UK government will be hosting, but also sending a team of negotiators to that.

And then in about May, we expect this current parliamentary session to end. It's been a long one. It will have been two years from start to finish, which is quite long for a parliamentary session. You'll remember that they used to run kind of like clockwork on a sort of yearly basis. It doesn't really happen like that anymore. Legislating has got much more complicated and unpredictable. But the leader of the House did tell Parliament recently that he expected this session to end around May. The government's got a lot of business to wrap up before then.

But then with a new session, we do expect to see legislation that will affect the environment. I think the government suggested that there will be new legislation on water reform proposals, for example. There's a lot of unfinished business on nature that will need to be grappled with as well. But we'll have to wait and see the detail of that.

NR: Gosh, I'm tired just thinking about it. We should be feeling chipper and excited about a year ahead. But there's a lot to do, isn't there? And May will come round unbelievably quickly as well, I think, won't it? It's going to be interesting to see what we get through by the end of the session.

OK, Ruth, so we've had a canter through, and thank you, through all of our nations within the UK and what we might be expecting. I'm going to pass you the Planet Possible magic wand. You knew this was coming, hopefully. Give it a wave. And given what we've talked about with all of that legislation that may be on the statute books and policy that's maybe just a twinkle in somebody's eye at the moment, what would you like to make possible with the Planet Possible magic wand in 2026?

RC: I think if I were to wave the magic wand at the start of 2026, I would like to wave it towards the leaders of each of the four governments in the UK. So not the environment ministers, but the prime ministers and the first ministers, and perhaps the deputy first ministers where they share that power. I would like that to sprinkle some dust of positivity in relation to the environment on them all, so that when they're managing their colleagues around their cabinet tables, and the environment comes up, as it will, those at the helm of that table will be able to direct a more positive climate for the environment to be discussed in, because quite frankly that doesn't feel like that's always been the case in all of the countries.

NR: And Ruth, I'm going to do something that I haven't done before, but could I add to your wish if that's okay? Because I am totally on board with that, and I would love it if those same leaders saw the environment as an enabler for many of the things that they wanted to do, and part of the solution, rather than something separate or potentially even a blocker. Because I just think if we can put water and nature and climate at the heart of some of our decision making, then we'll probably get really solid outcomes, both for the economy, but also for all those aspects of life that we kind of cherish. So if they're listening, and let's hope they are at the start of the year, then hopefully they heard from both of us there really clearly.

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