Llyr Gruffydd MS, Cabinet Minister for Rural Resilience and Sustainability
I am pleased to announce the launch of the consultation on the draft Environmental Principles and Integrating Environmental Protection Statement today.
The Statement is a requirement within the Environment (Principles, Governance and Biodiversity Targets) (Wales) Act 2026 (“the Environmental Governance Act”) which received Royal Assent on 27 April 2026. I welcomed the opportunity to scrutinise the Act as Chair of the Climate Change, Environment and Infrastructure Committee.
I thank Members and stakeholders who shared their views during the passage of the Environmental Governance Act, helping to inform the draft Environmental Principles and Integrating Environmental Protection Statement. I look forward to ongoing engagement and collaboration during the consultation process.
Part 1 of the Environmental Governance Act sets out an environmental objective and environmental principles. These duties are intended to help ensure environmental protection, and the need for the improvement of the environment, are at the heart of policy making and strategic environmental assessment in Wales. This will support our ambition for net zero by 2040 and substantive nature recovery by 2050.
The Statement will be a vital tool for policy and decision makers in Wales, placing internationally recognised environmental principles at the centre of environmental protection and improvement in Wales. This includes the principle of prevention, the precautionary principle, rectification at source and the polluter pays principle.
The Environmental Governance Act requires the Welsh Ministers and Natural Resources Wales, when making policy and certain other public authorities, when carrying out strategic environmental assessment, to apply the four environmental principles and integrate environmental protection into their work.
I encourage responses to the consultation. Feedback received will help shape the final Statement and how these important duties are put into practice.