Spotlight on business: 10 years of improving the environment
July 30th 2008

Over the last 10 years environmental regulation has produced significant benefits for people and the environment and we will continue to work with business to build on these successes. As climate change begins to bite, and the price of fuel rises, there’s never been a better time for industry to lead the way in using resources wisely and raising environmental standards.

How has the environment improved?

Industry sectors that have reported to us since 1998 have:

• improved air quality by cutting sulphur oxides (SOx) by 69%, fine particles (PM10) by 53%, nitrogen oxides (NOx) by 12%

• reduced waste by 14%

• cut the number of serious pollution incidents by almost half from 884 to 462 since 2000.

Environmental performance in 2007

The best sectors for operator environmental performance with sites achieving band A were:

• energy – 72%

• minerals – 72%

• metals – 61%.

The worst operator environmental performance from sectors with sites having band D or E was:

• waste with 43%

• textiles with 27%.

As a result of Environment Agency prosecutions the courts handed out £3 million in fines as well as almost 8 years behind bars and more than 170 days of community service.

Businesses have benefited from our risk-based approach to regulation and we will continue to work closely with them in the future to build on these successes.

• Spotlight on business: 10 years of improving the environment
Find out about the environmental performance of business and how regulation has helped to improve our environment.