This standard was published in April 2026. This replaced the prior ISO 14001:2015 standard on environmental management systems.
Organisations certified to ISO 14001:2015 have until 14 April 2029 to recertify to the 2026 standard. Changes made include an increased focus on the life cycle perspective within environmental management.
These regulations will apply the first phase of the mandatory digital waste tracking system in England from 1 October 2026.
In the first phase, facilities in England that are permitted to receive waste must register with the digital waste tracking system and enter specified information on waste received into the system. The second phase, expected in 2027, will apply to producers, carriers and brokers of waste.
These regulations will expand the list of installations eligible for climate change agreements. Climate change agreements apply a reduced rate of climate change levy on the installation’s bills, in return for binding energy or emissions targets.
Installations undertaking the mechanical recycling of plastic, packaging spirits or producing automotive grade battery cells will become eligible for these agreements.
These regulations amend the European Union (Energy Performance of Buildings) Regulations 2012.
These changes update the mandatory format for Building Energy Rating (BER) certificates. The rating system was updated. Additional BER metrics to be included in certificates concern energy use, global warming potential and operational greenhouse gas emissions.
The Finance Act 2026 establishes the UK Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (UK CBAM), which will apply from 1 January 2027.
The UK CBAM will require qualifying importers of certain goods from the aluminium, fertiliser, cement, hydrogen and iron and steel sectors to register for this tax.
This tax will apply to the embodied emissions associated with the imported goods, which aims to tackle the risk of 'carbon leakage' when production is outsourced to countries with less strict climate change legislation.
These regulations came partially into force on 26 March 2026. The scheme is due to operate from 1 October 2027.
A deposit will be charged when a drink in a qualifying bottle or can is supplied. This deposit will be refunded on return of the container.
Unlike elsewhere in the UK, the Welsh scheme will also cover glass bottles, but no deposit will be charged on these containers until 30 September 2031.
These regulations will implement the first phase of the mandatory digital waste tracking system in Wales from 1 October 2026. In this phase, facilities in Wales that are permitted to receive waste will need to register with the digital waste tracking system and enter specified information on waste received into the system.
The forthcoming second phase, expected in 2027, will apply to producers, carriers and brokers of waste.
This draft legislation will amend the assimilated, Great British version of the Registration, Evaluation, Authorisation and Restriction of Chemicals (REACH) Regulation (EC) No 1907/2006.
The amendments will further delay deadlines for transitional registrations of chemicals under UK REACH, where these were previously registered under EU REACH. The first transitional registration deadline will be 27 October 2029, rather than 27 October 2026 as beforehand.
