Environment & Climate
52mentions · last 12 months↓
View full analysis →The Lords Environment and Climate Change Select Committee scrutinises environmental and climate policy, including waste management, water security, and nature conservation. Operating as a House of Lords select committee, it conducts detailed inquiries through witness evidence sessions and publishes findings to inform parliamentary debate. The committee has devoted sustained attention to waste crime enforcement, examining both the Environment Agency's current approach and the government's 10-point plan to strengthen action against illegal dumping and related offences. It has also undertaken a major inquiry into drought preparedness across multiple sectors, taking evidence from the Environment Agency, Ofwat, water companies, the Office for Environmental Protection, and stakeholders including the National Farmers Union on water resilience and infrastructure challenges. Most recently the committee has widened its drought focus to include emerging pressures such as data-centre water demands and agricultural water use, building a comprehensive picture of water stress across the English economy.
21 sessions published in the last 12 months
Click any cell in the heatmap to see the sessions held that day and the insights extracted from them.
421 insights
23 Jun 2026
The committee scrutinised Defra, the Veterinary Medicines Directorate and the Environment Agency on environmental contamination from pet parasite medicines, especially fipronil and imidacloprid, and on the case for stronger phase 2 environmental risk assessment. Witnesses said these chemicals are widely detected in water and may be harmful to invertebrates, but causation is hard to prove from current data. Ministers and regulators said they are taking the issue seriously through the Pharmaceuticals in the Environment Group, a call for evidence, better exposure modelling, and review of distribution categories. The panel also discussed transparency of authorisations, pharmacovigilance, sales data, online sales, user advice, alternative sources such as imported textiles and sewage sludge, and emerging concerns about isoxazolines.
17 Jun 2026
The committee scrutinised the use, sales, environmental impacts and human-health risks of pet parasite medications, especially fipronil and imidacloprid. Witnesses from ESCCAP, NOAH and Elanco said the evidence base is incomplete, sales and prevalence data are fragmented, and more research is needed on flea prevalence, zoonotic risk and environmental pathways. The industry side argued that products remain beneficial, that regulators already assess benefit-risk and pharmacovigilance, and that current evidence is inconclusive rather than proving harm. There was also discussion of risk-based prescribing, access barriers to vet care, and whether stronger environmental assessment and clearer consumer advice should be adopted.
10 Jun 2026
The committee scrutinised the use, sale and environmental impacts of pet parasiticides, with veterinarians arguing that routine prophylactic use is often unnecessary, commercially driven and increasingly hard to justify given evidence of environmental contamination, possible human-health exposure and emerging resistance concerns. Witnesses backed a shift to risk-based prescribing, better data collection, clearer independent guidance, stronger label advice, and safe-disposal arrangements, while criticising the current VMD approach as too reliant on industry-linked bodies and too optimistic that advice at point of sale will solve pollution. They also discussed distribution categories, costs to pet owners, prevalence of fleas and zoonotic risks, and the need for independent research and more transparent publication of sales and usage data.
03 Jun 2026
The Committee scrutinised the environmental and human-health impacts of pet parasite medications, especially flea and tick treatments containing imidacloprid, fipronil and fluralaner. Witnesses argued that UK authorisation has not been backed by adequate environmental risk assessment, that monitoring is patchy or absent for most products, and that current use patterns amount to prophylactic overuse. They pressed for stronger VMD action, revised assessments, better monitoring, possible prescription-only controls, limits on advertising, and producer-funded treatment and research. The witnesses also disputed claims that veterinary products are only a small contributor to river contamination, citing modelling, field studies and declining aquatic invertebrate populations downstream of sewage works.
25 Mar 2026
Environment Agency witnesses scrutinise progress on waste crime since the committee’s report, focusing on upstream enforcement, data and intelligence, funding, and governance. Key government commitments include a 48-hour on-site target for credible illegal waste reports, publication of a 151-priority-site list (with 15 red sites) on Waste Explorer within a month, and a £45m government uplift over three years to support enforcement and intelligence. The session also flags needs for digital waste tracking, stronger duties of care, and faster, more certain powers (e.g., injunctions) to shut down sites, alongside ongoing debates about responsibilities for site clearance and the role of policing.
18 Mar 2026
This session revisited the Lords’ waste inquiry focusing on illegal waste sites, penalties, enforcement, and the role of Defra and the Environment Agency (EA). Ministers outlined commitments to bolster prevention and enforcement through new EA powers, increased enforcement funding (plus a larger Joint Unit for Waste Crime) and potential police-style powers, alongside digital waste tracking and tighter carrier/broker/dealer controls. The committee pressed for earlier intervention, clearer accountability, and a root-and-branch reform of waste-management oversight, including local-authority responsibilities and the polluter-pays principle. A waste-crime action plan and legislative changes were flagged as imminent, though dates remained tentative. The session highlighted tensions over resource allocation, agency accountability, and who should bear enforcement and clean-up costs, with calls for improved information sharing, ground deployments, and cross-agency collaboration.
17 Jun 2026
17 Jun 2026