The UK’s membership of the European Union meant many aspects of environmental law were set at European level. Following Brexit several new legal and administrative arrangements for environmental governance were put in place at Scottish or UK level, or jointly between governments. The Committee sought to continue the work of scrutinising these developing arrangements, which had started towards the end of the last Parliamentary session. At times, this included considering some key issues in environmental governance that were not created by Brexit, such as the extent of Scotland’s compliance with the Aarhus Convention, predate Brexit.  

Environmental governance review

In June 2023, the Scottish Government laid the Environmental governance arrangements: report in the Scottish Parliament. It was produced as a result of an obligation in the UK Withdrawal from the European Union (Continuity) (Scotland) Act 2021 (‘the Continuity Act’).

The Act also required the Scottish Government to consult on the effectiveness of environmental governance arrangements, including:

• the sufficiency of environmental governance in Scotland.
• whether the law in Scotland on access to justice on environmental matters is sufficient; and
• the appropriateness of establishing an environmental court to address any governance gaps;

The Scottish Government held its consultation between June and October 2023. Finally, the Continuity Act required the Scottish Government to lay a Statement on the effectiveness of environmental governance arrangements after its consultation.  

The Committee carried out a short stocktake on environmental governance in Scotland, post-Brexit and in light of the Continuity Act. The Committee wrote to a targeted list of stakeholders on 20 September 2023 and received six responses (see under Correspondence below). 

On 2 November 2023, the Committee wrote to the Cabinet Secretary asking for a response to the concerns raised by stakeholders. The Cabinet Secretary responded on 8 November. The Committee then held an evidence session on 16 January 2024 with environmental stakeholders to discuss the Scottish Government’s review. It also discussed in environmental governance with Environmental Standards Scotland at meetings on 5 March 2024, 25 March 2025 and 10 March 2026.

The Scottish Government laid its Statement on 19 November 2024. The Committee then took evidence on the statement from the Scottish Government on 10 December 2024.

On 3 April 2025, the Committee led a joint debate in the Chamber with the Equalities, Human Rights and Civil Justice Committee on the Aarhus Convention and Access to Environmental Justice.

Guiding principles on the environment

Under the Continuity Act, the Scottish Government and other public bodies are required to have regard to five ‘guiding principles’ on the environment when making policy or operational decisions. These principles are:

• the principle of integration
• the precautionary principle
• the preventative principle
• the rectification at source principle
• the polluter pays principle.

In July 2023, the then Cabinet Secretary for Transport, Net Zero and Just Transition wrote to the Committee to outline the the Scottish Government’s work to produce statutory guidance on the principles for public bodies, to embed them in decision making and policy development.

The Continuity Act requires the Scottish Government to lay this guidance before the Scottish Parliament for its approval. The draft guidance was laid on 14 August 2023 and it was referred to the Committee for consideration.

When the Committee carried out its targeted consultation on environmental governance in September 2023 (see above), it also sought views on this draft guidance.

The Committee formally considered the guidance at its meeting on 24 October 2023 and agreed to make no recommendation about it. However, the Committee wrote to the then Cabinet Secretary for Transport, Net Zero and Just Transition setting out further questions related to monitoring the implementation of the guiding principles . The Cabinet Secretary responded on 29 November 2023.

The guidance has subsequently been published by the Scottish Government. This, and the principles themselves, are now in effect.

Common Frameworks

Background

Following Brexit, the UK Government and devolved administrations agreed to work towards producing a set of “Common Frameworks” to ensure an element of consistency across the UK in certain policy areas repatriated to the UK, in cases where rights and duties in these policy areas are shared between the UK and devolved governments.

In Session 2021-26, the Committee had a role in scrutinising proposed Common Frameworks covering areas of policy within its remit.

Environmental Common Frameworks

The Committee ran a call for views on five environmental Common Frameworks, which closed on 31 May 2022. Read responses to the call for views.

• Radioactive Substances
• Air Quality
• Best Available Techniques/Industrial Emissions (BAT)
• Ozone Depleting Substances and F-gases
• Chemicals and Pesticide

The Committee also held an evidence session with Scotland’s statutory environmental regulatorson 25 October 2022, which included discussion of environmental Common Frameworks.

The Committee presented its findings in a letter to the Scottish Government. Read the Committee’s letter.

UK Emissions Trading Scheme provisional Common Framework

In 2023, the Committee considered the UK Emissions Trading Scheme provisional Common Framework. The Framework sets out how the UK Government and Devolved Administrations will work together to exercise decision-making powers and responsibilities relating to a new trading system following EU-exit, known as the UK ETS.

The then Cabinet Secretary for Net Zero, Energy & Transport wrote to the Committee on 29 March 2023 to share details of the provisional Common Framework.

The Committee issued a call for views which closed on 5 October 2023 and received one response.

The Committee wrote to the Scottish Government on 23 November 2023 drawing the submission to its attention. Read the Committee’s letter. 

The Committee considered several statutory instruments modifying the UK ETS over the course of the Session. 

Resources and Waste Common Framework

The Committee also considered the provisional Resources and Waste Common Framework, which sets out how Government’s across the UK will work together on issues within this policy area.

The then Minister for Green Skills, Circular Economy and Biodiversity provided some information about the provisional Common Framework in a letter to the Committee on 18 January 2023. 

The Committee included questions relating to this Common Framework as part of its call for views on the Circular Economy (Scotland) Bill which closed on 1 September. All responses gathered on the Common Framework are available on the call for views page on Citizen Space and the Committee’s webpage for the Bill.

The Committee also considered the Framework during its Stage 1 evidence-taking on the Bill, setting outs its views in itsStage 1 Report on the Circular Economy (Scotland) Bill.