Consultation on modernising environmental permitting for industry

Our goal is to ensure that environmental permitting effectively enables the development and commercialisation by industry of technologies and processes that will deliver decarbonisation, a more circular economy and pollution reduction. 

Under the EPRs, the approach to R&D trials and the regulation of new technologies is relatively well established. Installations that would otherwise require permitting (as they are carrying out an activity covered by the EPRs), but which are solely used for research, development (R&D) or testing of new products and processes (rather than ongoing commercial operation), are specifically exempted from the EPRs and do not require a permit. For example, this exemption would cover a pilot plant being used to test a new hydrogen production process. There is some complexity here as where R&D or testing activity is carried out at an installation that is not solely used for R&D or testing, for example, trialling a new waste-derived fuel at a commercial power plant, a full permit variation setting out detailed controls on the activity will generally be required to allow it to proceed. The EA has, however, recently introduced a more streamlined approach to authorising time-limited R&D activity at permitted installations where the activity will not result in any significant emissions through new R&D ‘standard rules’. 

Once a new technology is developed into, or used as part of, an ongoing commercial operation and is therefore not covered by the above R&D and testing exemption, it will require a full permit of the relevant kind which will set out detailed controls to prevent significant pollution. It is and should remain the responsibility of the operator to provide evidence on potential environmental and health impacts in order to demonstrate the safety of their process, which for novel processes can involve further basic scientific research. For this reason, permitting first-of-a-kind technologies can be time-consuming and labour-intensive as permit conditions have to be developed on a case-by-case basis using the available data and information on environmental impacts and pollution control techniques.  

However, as a technology becomes more established and data and information becomes more available, the EA can work with industry to develop Guidance on Emerging Techniques (GET) which set out the standards to which it will permit new technologies (see recent GET on post-combustion carbon capture and hydrogen production by electrolysis of water). GET provides permit writers with guidance on sectoral pollution standards, based on available evidence and data, and can significantly expedite the permitting process for emerging industries and provide greater regulatory certainty to operators. Installations that are testing or using emerging techniques can apply for a derogation from meeting emission limit values (ELVs) and BAT for a period of 9 months, provided that after that period they either stop the activity or meet relevant ELVs. 

Once a technology has been fully established and extensive information on emissions and pollution control techniques is available, BAT can be developed setting out detailed emission limits and operating techniques. 

This staged approach provides a relatively clear progression for new technologies and the process of developing GET has been welcomed by industry as providing clarity for some key sectors. However, the Corry Review highlighted that permitting legislation and processes are not sufficiently agile in responding to innovative new technologies. Industry and other stakeholders have also set out areas where they believe permitting of new technologies is disproportionate and slows down the commercialisation of innovation, for example, that: 

• the requirement for full permit variations for R&D activity at commercial installations can disincentivise innovation as the timescales for approvals is at odds with the required pace of scaling-up innovative approaches (this issue is becoming more important as we are increasingly seeing testing of impacts on operation of new decarbonisation or circular economy technologies or fuels, rather than totally new processes unlinked to commercial operation) 

• it is not always clear where R&D and testing activity ends and commercial operation begins 

• the R&D and testing exemption is not available to all sectors 

• standards for emerging sectors should be developed as early as possible to provide clarity to emerging sectors, and requirements should be flexible to avoid overly restrictive requirements inhibiting development of new technologies 

• the existing 9-month derogation from meeting BAT and ELVs for emerging techniques is underutilised 

Below we explore some proposals in response to these issues and request further policy ideas to achieve this goal.