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In 2015, the European Commission laid out its Circular Economy Package for providing the way to a transition towards a sustainable European economy. The package was followed by a serious of measures aimed at increasing circularity in the EU economy. While the first steps were carried out, it proved to be a long way to establish a circular economy. In 2019, the circularity rate stood around 11% with large variations among the Member States. When the new Commission proposed its EU Green Deal in 2019, a new impetus was given to promote the economic transition. However, efforts come at a time when the Union is confronted with several serious enormous challenges (e.g., increased global competition, raw material scarcity, mounting volumes of waste, climate change, Covid-19). Furthermore, in February 2020, the United Kingdom left the European Union after four years of draining negotiations. With the departure of the UK, the EU has not only lost a major economic power but also a Member State actively steering discussions during EU environmental policy-making processes. Accordingly, Brexit will change the face of the EU and its efforts in establishing a circular economy. True, in the past UK governments showed a mixed record of environmental policy engagement. And London did not spare criticizing, down-washing or even blocking several environmental regulations of the EU (e.g., habitat laws, glyphosate, energy efficiency directive, national renewable targets), but the Union lost an active and highly developed economic and political power with extraordinary capacities, international outreach and influence. Accordingly, Brexit not only represents a major change to environmental governance in the United Kingdom but also for the Union. The study seeks to reveal major consequences of Brexit in regards to environmental policy-making of the EU-27, particularly focusing on the circular economy. To what extent does Brexit hamper EU efforts in establishing a circular economy? What are the consequences for EU policy-making aimed at reducing material consumption, increasing resource efficiency, and closing industrial loops? The study discusses short-term and long-term consequences in the economy and also in the political realm. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A principal driver for sustainability in the UK is the influence of European Union law and policy. Sustainability is a key component of the ultimate purposes of the European Union, and is given specific legal force by the requirement that in conjunction with environmental law and policy it must be integrated into all of the EU's activities in whatever field of competence. Part of this success has been the uniformity in which environmental law and policy has been agreed and implemented by the member states, including the United Kingdom. This law is also then subject to coordination, evaluation, oversight, and enforcement by the EU's governance institutions. Following a referendum in which the UK population narrowly voted to separate itself from the EU, specific laws, amongst others those relating to nature conservation, such as the Birds and Habitats Directives and the Bathing Water Directive, will ultimately no longer apply to govern UK policy and practice. Given that waters and biodiversity are often shared resources, this article examines the potential impacts that non-aligned environmental policies consequent upon the UK's separation will mean in terms of the development of effective environmental law and policy, both in the UK and for those who have a stake in the sustainable and effective management of those resources. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We propose a suite of actions for strengthening water governance in contexts with complex, multi-tiered arrangements. In doing so, we focus on the collective water policies and approaches of the United Kingdom (UK), including those of devolved governments, which confront a host of serious water-related challenges—from massive flooding of urban areas and agricultural lands, to pressure on aquifers from rising water demand and drought. Further complexity in addressing these challenges has emerged in the wake of the June 2016 vote to leave the European Union (EU), so-called ‘Brexit’, and the ensuing ‘separation process’ with uncertainties for institutional and governance arrangements to follow. We make ten proposals for improving and reinvigorating water policy in complex, multi-layered situations, and comment specifically on their application in the UK setting. These are: put in place a system-wide water policy; fully embrace community-led nested river basin planning and management; fully fund river basin planning and management; re-focus the policy framing; use best-available data and information; create conversational spaces and become a more water-literate society; mobilise people; support and sustain core community networks; underpin river basin plans with regulatory provisions and effective monitoring and enforcement; and address systemic institutional amnesia. Individually and collectively, we contend that these actions will have a marked effect on transforming the planning and management of water resources. A system-wide water policy that maintains and builds on the substantive biophysical and socio-economic benefits delivered through implementation of the EU Water Framework Directive, together with the more recent Floods Directive, will galvanise stewardship of water in the UK. We urge more active engagement with and empowerment of the multiplicity of system ‘actors’, and highlight the role of non-government actors in a post-Brexit world as conduits for reaching out to and connecting directly with a wide range of water-related actors, especially across the EU. While attention to-date has focused on a plethora of specifically water-related projects, initiatives, plans and regulations, what is really needed is a systemic, long-term view of water resource management. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]