Actions now will determine whether key 2030 environmental targets are met, says OEP report on EIP progress - Office for Environmental Protection

Government remains off track to meet its environmental commitments and its actions now will determine whether or not key targets for biodiversity and the protection of land and sea by 2030 will be met, says the latest progress report by the Office for Environmental Protection (OEP).

The OEP has today (13 January, 2026) published its fourth statutory report on government’s progress in delivering its Environmental Improvement Plan (EIP), covering the 12 months up to the end of March 2025.

Dame Glenys Stacey, Chair of the OEP, said: “Our report comes at a time when government is focused on economic growth. Nature has a role to play here, an important role. It is not a blocker to growth, but it enables, drives and protects economic growth.

“Nature’s recovery is a pre-requisite of prosperity, health and well-being. Recent analyses, led by the Cabinet Office, of the chronic risks facing this country are sobering. They talk of accelerating climate change, biodiversity loss, and pollution having cascading, compounding impacts, which will amplify threats to national and international security, the economy and communities. It is in that context we provide this latest annual assessment of how government is working towards improving the natural environment, and so towards a more prosperous and more secure future. We have previously called for government to speed up and scale up its efforts if it is to achieve its environmental ambitions and commitments, and we renew that call now. While we have seen more progress in this year than in the previous reporting period, it was not the step change needed.”
The full report and a briefing note on our initial assessment of the revised EIP can be found here: Progress in improving the natural environment in England 2024/2025 | Office for Environmental Protection