UK businesses set to be questioned on EU green policies

The government has launched a consultation into the EU’s guidelines on the environment and climate change, and will ask businesses how these rules have affected their work.

The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) and the Department for Energy and Climate Change (DECC) will be asking industries, organisations, charities and thinktanks if they think the EU should take more or less action on green issues.

The aim is to determine whether policies wanted by Europe on the protection of the environment and tackling climate change sit happily with the UK’s economic interests.

Environment secretary Owen Paterson said, “This is the first time that people are being asked directly how individual EU policies affect them and their businesses.

“It’s important that we understand how policies on the environment and climate change affect people living and working with them in everyday life.”

The government is planning to produce 32 reports that will be presented next autumn, on a range of topics such as the environment and climate change, agriculture, fisheries, animal health and welfare and food safety.

The consultation is part of the Balance of Competences review that will examine the balance of power between the UK and the EU

Energy secretary Ed Davey described the review as “an opportunity for people and interest groups from across the spectrum to have their say on how the action we take to tackle climate change in the EU and beyond impacts on the UK.”

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