UK BAT (UK)

Industrial installations undertaking specific types of activity are required to use ‘best available techniques’ (BAT), which means the best economically and technically viable techniques to prevent, minimise and reduce emissions to air, water, and land.

BAT is used to determine the types of abatement technologies and methods that operators should put in place. BAT conclusions describe the best techniques and associated emission levels, which are the basis of the limits placed within environmental permits.

The UK Government, the Scottish Government, the Welsh Government, and the Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs (DAERA) are putting in place a new regime for the development of ‘BAT’ across the United Kingdom (UK), following the UK’s exit from the European Union (EU).

Northern Ireland – any ‘Best Available Techniques’ determined in Northern Ireland will need to ensure account is taken of the Northern Ireland Protocol, which requires some specific activities that interact with the Single Electricity Market to continue to align with the EU Industrial Emissions Directive (IED).

BAT was adopted and applied across the European Union (EU) by the European Commission as BAT Conclusions (BATC) under the IED (Directive 2010/75/EU).

Existing EU BATC continue to have effect in the UK through the EU Withdrawal Act 2018. They are available in best available technique reference documents or BREFS.

The UK no longer needs to meet the requirements of new EU BATC issued after 31 Dec 2020.

30 August 2022 – Policy Paper – here.

BATC will be published as statutory instruments and used as the basis for permit conditions for industry.

The UK BAT system will take between 1 to 3 years to create a set of BATC depending on the complexity of the industrial sector. The order of BATC to be reviewed will be announced in advance.

UK BAT will be established by technical working groups (TWG) for the relevant industrial sectors.

The first 4 industry sectors to establish BATC groups will be:

1 Ferrous metal processing – galvanising (FMPG).

2 Ferrous metals processing – forming (FMPF).

3 Textiles (TXT).

4 Waste gas treatment in the chemicals sector (WGC).

The TWG’s will be established from September 2022. It is anticipated that the BATC for the industry sectors above will be published in the second half of 2023.

A new governance structure will also be established, with new independent bodies – called the Standards Council and the Regulators Group – consisting of government officials and expert regulators from all four nations of the UK.

A UK Air Quality Governance Group will also be established to oversee the work of the Standards Council and the delivery of the requirements under this new framework. Interested parties from industry, academia and civil society will be able to engage in the running of the BAT system through an advisory group being set up by the UK BAT Team.

Local councils currently play a major role in regulating industrial installations in England and Wales and have a clear interest in the impact emissions have on the health of local communities and the environment. The new regime will bring local councils into the BAT framework for the first time by involving them in the governance and standard-setting processes.

Some sectors in the UK had already begun a separate review process under the old EU BAT framework. These sectors will complete the BAT process, drawing on UK data submitted to the EU as a starting point, then tailor the BAT to meet UK circumstances.

UK BAT Consultation (UK)

From 1st Jan 2021, EU BATC (best available techniques conclusions) documents will not be applicable in the UK (except in Northern Ireland under the Ireland/Northern Ireland Protocol of the Withdrawal Agreement).

The UK is now consulting on developing its own approach to the creation of UK BAT documents. Here (and online – here). The deadline is 18 April 2021.

A new governance structure is proposed to enable BAT a’ Best Available Techniques’ to be developed within the UK. This would be formed of a new Standards Council, made up of representatives from the UK Government and Devolved Administrations, a new Regulators Group that will provide technical advice to the Standards Council, and Technical Working Groups for each new ‘Best Available Techniques’ under consideration.

The Council would coordinate a rolling programme for review of ‘Best Available Techniques’ within the UK. The programme will be informed by the time since the industry sector last had a ‘Best Available Techniques’ review as well as technical insight on new and emerging techniques and ‘Best Available Techniques’ development in other regimes around the world. This includes considering when general guidance on ‘Best Available Techniques’ developed for new processes or for unique installations would benefit from being considered through the new system. The decision on the future timetable will be based on technical advice provided by the Regulators Group, and instigation of ‘Best Available Techniques’ development can be proposed by any Council member. It is proposed that ‘Best Available Techniques’ currently under review by the EU, where UK industry and experts have already been involved, should be considered by the UK process, once established.

The Regulators Group will support the Council and provide oversight of the work of the sector specific Technical Working Groups. It will develop and regularly review the technical principles that underpin ‘Best Available Techniques’ within the UK, apply those principles when reviewing each sector ‘Best Available Techniques’ and will make recommendations to the Council on ‘Best Available Techniques’. The Regulators Group membership would comprise of representatives from the Environment Agency, Natural Resources Wales, Northern Ireland Environment Agency and the Scottish Environment Protection Agency as well as the Offshore Petroleum Regulator for Environment and Decommissioning (OPRED) (for offshore oil and gas installations).

Further detail is set out in the consultation document.