Current Legislation

Following on from its 2022 investigation into the fashion sector, the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has announced plans to investigate green claims made across the FMCG sector, including food and drink, personal care, and cleaning products. The CMA has noted a significant amount of household products hold green or eco-friendly claims, which may be unsubstantiated. If claims are shown to be unfounded, the CMA may open an investigation into specific brands, as it did with a targeted analysis on Boohoo, ASOS and Asda last year.

Source: https://www.edie.net/cma-to-scrutinise-eco-claims-on-fmcg-in-next-phase-of-greenwashing-clampdown/

The world’s first carbon border tariff has come into effect in the EU. Under this policy, importers of certain products like iron, steel, aluminium, cement, electricity, fertilizers, and hydrogen are now required to disclose the carbon emissions generated during the production of these goods. Starting in 2026, importers will have to acquire certificates to offset these emissions, ensuring fair competition with EU producers who purchase permits from the EU carbon market. This move is expected to have a significant impact on major trading partners of the EU, including the UK.

Source: https://www.carbonbrief.org/daily-brief/eu-launches-first-phase-of-worlds-first-carbon-border-tariff/

In a bid to tackle microplastic pollution, the European Union has enacted a ban on the sale of plastics less than 5mm in size, that do not break down or dissolve naturally. This includes glitter, including the kind often used in cosmetics, but biodegradable glitter is permitted. Whilst the UK is not affected, UK companies exporting to and selling in the EU must abide by the law. Retailers are allowed to continue selling old stock containing glitter until it is depleted.

Source: https://single-market-economy.ec.europa.eu/commission-regulation-eu-20232055-restriction-microplastics-intentionally-added-products_en

The Levelling Up and Regeneration Act came into law from October 2023 and introduces changes to the English planning system, including how powers are devolved to local authorities. The aim of the legislation is to speed up the planning system and encourage the building of new homes. Key changes include the replacement of the Environmental Impact Assessment and Strategic Environmental Assessment regime with the Environmental Outcomes Report, which aims to streamline the assessment process. Section 106 payments will also be replaced with a new Infrastructure Levy. The Act gives Local Plans more weight in planning decisions, indicating that there would need to be strong reasons to override a Local Plan. An update to the National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF) will follow before the Act can fully take effect.

Source: https://www.gov.uk/government/news/new-laws-to-speed-up-planning-build-homes-and-level-up

The ban on single-use plastic items has come into force in England. The ban covers items such as plates, cutlery and certain types of polystyrene food containers and applies to retailers, food vendors, takeaway outlets and hospitality businesses. The ban does not apply to trays and bowls used as packaging in shelf-ready pre-packaged food items, such as salads, as these will be included in the plans for an Extended Producer Responsibility scheme.

Source: Government announcement

Organisations who produce or use packaging, or sell packaged goods may be obligated to follow rules to reduce the amount of packaging produced, reduce the amount of packaging going to landfill, and increase the amount of packaging waste that is recycled.

See DEFRA (Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs) guidance to check if your organisation qualifies.

Building on these existing commitments, DEFRA will introduce further criteria for organisations through Extended Producer Responsibility for Packaging to be implemented from 01 January 2023.

Source: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/packaging-producer-responsibilities#check-if-you-are-an-obligated-packaging-producer

From 1st January 2023, qualifying organisations who handle and supply packaging will see increased obligations for recycling in the UK. Organisations will need to gather and submit data on the empty packaging and packaged goods passing through their organisation, register for the EPR online packaging service, and in future pay a fee to the regulator.

Larger organisations will additionally need to purchase waste buy packaging waste recycling notes (PRNs) or packaging waste export recycling notes (PERNs) to meet their obligations.

See DEFRA (Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs) guidance to check if your organisation qualifies.

As of July 2023, the imposition of fees for packaging has been deferred for a year and so producers will not have to pay fees until 2025, rather than 2024 as previously planned. Producers must still report their packaging data for 2023.

Source: Government Guidance

Many types of energy-related products are regulated to ensure they meet specific measures relating to their energy usage. This reduces their environmental impact, improves their energy efficiency, and cuts greenhouse gas emissions.

All products in scope must:

• have supporting technical documentation (often referred to as a technical file) to demonstrate compliance
• have a Declaration of Conformity
• display the appropriate conformity marking for the GB and/ or NI markets as appropriate

The manufacturer, authorised representative or importer that first places a regulated product on the Great Britain or Northern Ireland market, or puts it into service, is responsible for compliance.

Source: Government Guidance

Organizations making claims that a product, service, brand or business provides a benefit or is less harmful to the environment must align with the Green Claims Code. This is a set of guidance published by the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) to avoid greenwashing and misleading customers. Organisations should be careful to consider the full life cycle of products before making claims.

As a follow-on to the CMA’s Green Claims guidance, the Committee of Advertising Practice (CAP) has released guidance on the use of carbon neutral and net zero claims in advertising. This reflects research which found a lack of understanding among consumers regarding the meaning of the terms ‘net zero’ and ‘carbon neutral’ but also a high prevalence of these terms, leading to high potential for consumers to be misled. The new CAP guidance sets out steps advertisers should take to ensure they do not use unqualified claims and that claims are clearly explained with a company’s approach – for example, disclosing whether offsets are used.

After conducting an inquiry into ASOS, Boohoo, and George at Asda, the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has released an open letter addressed to all fashion retailers, urging them to reassess their environmental claims. ASOS, Boohoo, and George at Asda have additionally entered into formal agreements to guarantee the accuracy and non-misleading nature of their environmental claims. As part of these agreements, the retailers have committed to forgoing ambiguous terms like ‘eco-friendly’ and misleading imagery in their marketing.

Source: Government Guidance

From February 2022 it is has been mandatory for publicly quoted companies, large private companies and LLPs to report on their climate-related risk in line with the recommendations of the global Taskforce on Climate-related Financial Disclosures.

See DEFRA (Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs) guidance to check if your organisation qualifies.

Source: Government Guidance

Qualifying organisations manufacturing or importing plastic packaging components which contain less than 30% recycled plastic need to register to pay the Plastic Packaging Tax of £200 per tonne. If you have manufactured or imported 10 or more tonnes of plastic packaging since 1 April 2022, you may need to register for the tax.

In April 2023, the Department for Business and Trade proposed a reform to the Plastic Packaging Tax, adopting a ‘mass balance’ approach to calculate the percentage of chemically recycled content included in plastic packaging. ‘Mass balance’ accounting means that, while the actual content of a piece of packaging may not be recycled, a set portion of recycled content overall is verified by a third-party certificate. The aim of this reform is to help funnel investment into chemical recycling, aiding solutions development for harder-to-recycle plastics.

A consultation on this reform will be launched later this year.

See DEFRA (Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs) guidance to check if your organisation qualifies.

Source: UK Government website

https://www.edie.net/uks-plastic-packaging-tax-set-to-be-reformed/ 

Organisations who produce or use packaging, or sell packaged goods may be obligated to follow rules to reduce the amount of packaging produced, reduce the amount of packaging going to landfill, and increase the amount of packaging waste that is recycled.  See DEFRA (Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs) guidance to check if your organisation qualifies.

Building on these existing commitments, DEFRA will introduce further criteria for organisations through Extended Producer Responsibility for Packaging to be implemented from 01 January 2023.

Source: Government Guidance

It is mandatory for quoted companies, large unquoted organisations and large limited liability partnerships (LLPs) to disclose environmental performance information through company filings. “Large businesses” are defined as companies exceeding two or more of the following criteria within a financial year; 250+ employees; an annual turnover of £36m, or an annual balance sheet total of £18m.

At a minimum, large unquoted companies and LLPs will be required to report on UK energy use and emissions from gas, electricity, and transport. Unquoted companies must publish global GHG emissions from activities for which the company is responsible and global energy use.

For all three organisation types, figures must be provided the previous year (if applicable), along with at least one intensity ratio or normalisation factor (e.g. CO2e / m2 of floorspace, or per employee), as well as a narrative around measures taken for emission reduction and details of the methodology used.

Source: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/850130/Env-reporting-guidance_inc_SECR_31March.pdf

The Energy Savings Opportunity Scheme (ESOS) is a mandatory energy assessment scheme for organisations in the UK that meet the qualification criteria. It requires large companies to report on energy efficiency measures and plan for continuous improvement, submitting ESOS assessments to the regulator. These must be overseen by an ESOS assessor.

See DEFRA (Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs) guidance to check if your organisation qualifies.

Source: Government Guidance