DEFRA publishes Environmental Improvement Plan and Environment Act target delivery plans

The Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs (DEFRA) has published the Environmental Improvement Plan (EIP) and outlined the delivery plans for the Environment Act 2021 statutory targets along with the 5-year interim targets set out in the Environmental Improvement Plan. 

The EIP is structured around 10 goals and is to assist the completion of the 25 Year Environmental Plan, as well as the EIP 2023. It sets out steps to achieve the statutory targets outlined within the Environment Act 2021 and the 5-year interim targets to be implemented by several different sectors. 

The EIP can be broken down into thirteen separate plans covering agriculture water quality, air quality, farm wildlife, habitat creation and restoration, invasive non-native species, marine protected areas, protected sites, residual waste reduction, statutory species targets, tree canopy and woodland cover, wastewater, water and abandoned metal mines, and water demand.