Environmental permitting · air emissions
Environmental permitting for air emissions: three regimes, not one
Environmental permitting for air emissions in England and Wales runs on the Environmental Permitting Regulations 2016, which extend to England and Wales only.
Scotland and Northern Ireland use different instruments and regulators, and F-gas and ozone-depleting substances split Great Britain from Northern Ireland instead.
Within England, a permit breach also has a price: the Environment Agency’s compliance score sets next year’s charge.
Extent
What EPR 2016 covers, and where it stops
The Environmental Permitting (England and Wales) Regulations 2016 govern permits for installations, waste operations, water discharges, radioactive substances and combustion plant.
Regulation 1(2) settles their reach in one sentence: “These Regulations extend to England and Wales only.”
Wales has no separate instrument; Natural Resources Wales regulates under this one.
Scotland and Northern Ireland are not running EPR 2016 through local offices; they apply different instruments with different provisions.
Regulation 8(1) lists twelve classes of “regulated facility”, from installations and waste operations to medium combustion plant and specified generators, the last two inserted on 30 January 2018.
SI 2026/873 inserts three more classes, (m) to (o), with the rest of its main amendments, from 22 July 2027.
The wider four-nations picture, checked against each instrument’s own extent clause, is on UK sustainability regimes by jurisdiction.
| Nation | Instrument | Regulator |
|---|---|---|
| England | EPR 2016 | Environment Agency |
| Wales | EPR 2016 | Natural Resources Wales |
| Scotland | Environmental Authorisations (Scotland) Regulations 2018, as amended | SEPA |
| Northern Ireland | PPC (Industrial Emissions) Regulations (NI) 2013 | The chief inspector (NIEA) |
Medium combustion plant
Two dates, not one, for each size of plant
MCP compliance runs on a permit deadline and a later emission-limit deadline.
Citing one for the other is the commonest error in this area.
| Existing MCP | Permit in place by | Emission limit values from | Provisions |
|---|---|---|---|
| Rated thermal input above 5 MWth (and under 50) | 1 January 2024 | 1 January 2025 | reg 12(1A)(b); Sch 25A ¶6(3) |
| Rated thermal input 1 to 5 MWth | 1 January 2029 | 1 January 2030 | reg 12(1A)(c); Sch 25A ¶6(4) |
What counts as an MCP
A combustion plant with a rated thermal input equal to or greater than 1 megawatt but less than 50 megawatts (Sch 25A ¶2(1)).
The Environment Agency’s guidance says that includes the combustion unit, any abatement, the attached stack or flue, and air cooling that is part of the unit.
At 50 MWth and above a plant leaves the MCP regime for the Industrial Emissions Directive’s Part A rules.
What the guidance excludes
Among others: large combustion plant and incinerators under the Industrial Emissions Directive, plant using combustion gases for direct heating or drying, flares, crematoria, and apparatus that propels a vehicle, ship or aircraft.
Source: Medium combustion plant: when you need a permit (applies to England and Wales).
Industrial Emissions Directive
Schedule 7, and only Part A installations
The Industrial Emissions Directive is given effect in EPR 2016 by Schedule 7, “Part A installations: Industrial Emissions Directive”.
Its first paragraph is the scope: “This Schedule applies to every Part A installation.”
It requires the regulator to exercise its permitting functions to secure compliance with a named list of the Directive’s articles, and paragraph 7 requires a permit review whenever an Article 21 trigger applies.
“Part A installation” is not a synonym for “IED-regulated”: Part A(2) installations, regulated by local authorities, and Part B installations, for air only, sit in the same activity list without Schedule 7.
Material from the European Commission or EU law firms on recast deadlines describes EU law, not the rules for a UK Part A installation.
Directive (EU) 2024/1785 has no domestic effect in England and Wales.
Schedule 7 still gives effect to Directive 2010/75/EU as it stood at the end of the transition period, subject to UK amendments.
Pollution inventory
A notice-triggered return, three registers
Reporting to a pollution inventory is not automatic, and “the pollution inventory” is not one UK register.
| Nation | Register | Legal hook | Who reports |
|---|---|---|---|
| England and Wales | Pollution Inventory | EPR 2016 reg 61(1) and (4) | Part A(1) permit holders served a reg 61(1) notice; also sewage works of 100,000 population equivalent or more, some mines and quarries, radioactive waste disposal |
| Scotland | Scottish Pollutant Release Inventory (SPRI) | SSI 2018/219 reg 37(1) | Those served a “Regulation 37(1) Notice” |
| Northern Ireland | Pollution inventory | NISR 2013/160 reg 32 | Those served a notice by the Department or an enforcing authority |
In England and Wales the hook is a notice power: regulation 61(1) lets the regulator require information “by notice served on any person”, and regulation 61(4) treats compiling an inventory of emissions as one of its functions.
The Environment Agency’s guidance says the reporting period runs from 1 January to 28 February each year.
That window is the regulator’s administrative deadline, set under the notice; it is not printed in regulation 61 itself.
A Part A(2) or Part B permit holder that has never been served a notice has no inventory duty at all.
Scotland’s SPRI and Northern Ireland’s inventory rest on near-identical notice powers in their own instruments, so a Scottish site reports to SPRI, never to the Pollution Inventory under EPR 2016.
Compliance scoring
A breach has a price, even without enforcement
For waste operations and installations permitted under EPR 2016, the Environment Agency scores every non-compliance it records in the compliance year, 1 January to 31 December.
A category 1 breach scores 60 points, category 2 scores 31, category 3 scores 4, and category 4 scores 0.1.
The year’s total puts the site in a band from A (no points) to F (more than 150 points), and the band sets the following year’s subsistence charge, from 95% to 300% of the baseline.
So a single category 1 breach, with no prosecution and no notice, puts a site in band D: 125% of the baseline next year.
Sites in their first year of operation pay 100% of the baseline.
This is the Environment Agency’s scheme for England, set out in its compliance scoring guidance; it is not an ESOS penalty band, which is a different regime entirely.
The calculator applies the bands to your counts.
Compliance score · England, EPR permits
Non-compliances recorded in the compliance year (1 January to 31 December), by risk category.
68 points
Band E (60.1 to 149.9 points): next year’s subsistence charge is 150% of the baseline.
The score moves the charge with no enforcement action at all: one category 1 breach alone puts a site in band D.
Source: Environment Agency, Assessing and scoring environmental permit compliance (applies to England); this tool does not cover Wales, Scotland or Northern Ireland.
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F-gas and ozone-depleting substances
Great Britain and Northern Ireland, split a different way
F-gas runs on two layers that should not be collapsed into one citation.
The HFC phase-down and quota system is Regulation (EU) No 517/2014, which applies as retained law in Great Britain; in Northern Ireland EU F-gas law applies under the Windsor Framework.
The Fluorinated Greenhouse Gases Regulations 2015 are the domestic enforcement and certification layer, and regulation 1(2) extends them to Northern Ireland only for import, export and GB–NI trade.
Ozone-depleting substances follow the same split: Regulation (EC) No 1005/2009 is retained law in Great Britain and EU law in Northern Ireland, where the European Commission issues import and export licences.
The domestic Ozone-Depleting Substances Regulations 2015 extend to Great Britain, Scotland included, and reach Northern Ireland only for import and export.
GOV.UK guidance gives a 79% HFC cut by 2030 against average use in 2009 to 2012.
The GB-retained Annex V, and Defra’s own Explanatory Memorandum to SI 2023/1161, give 2015 to 2019.
Do not print either baseline without saying which text it comes from.
Source: GOV.UK, F gases
In brief
A 2026 amendment outside the air-emissions space
SI 2026/873 amends EPR 2016 to bring waste carriers, brokers and dealers into permitting through a new Schedule 25D, replacing the registration system.
It was made on 22 July 2026; its interpretation and transitional provisions came into force on 12 August 2026, and the permitting requirement itself on 22 July 2027.
It extends to England and Wales but applies primarily to England, and it does not touch the medium combustion plant or Industrial Emissions Directive provisions.
Where permitting meets reporting
Permits are not a disclosure regime
A permit governs what a site may emit and what it must report to its regulator; it is not a public disclosure duty in an annual report.
The company that runs the site may still have those: SECR in the directors’ report if it is large or quoted, and energy savings opportunity scheme energy audits if it qualifies.
Pollution and waste sit in the environmental pillar of ESG, which the ESG pillars page sets out.
A business looking for software to manage air emissions data should check that it handles the regulator’s returns as well as greenhouse gas accounting; the carbon reporting software guide covers the market.
Network companies report environmental incidents in their Ofgem returns too, as the Ofgem environmental report page explains.
Frequently asked
Environmental permitting, answered
Is environmental permitting a UK-wide regime?
No. The Environmental Permitting (England and Wales) Regulations 2016 extend to England and Wales only, with the Environment Agency and Natural Resources Wales as regulators.
Scotland permits under the Environmental Authorisations (Scotland) Regulations 2018, administered by SEPA, and Northern Ireland under the Pollution Prevention and Control (Industrial Emissions) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2013.
What requires an environmental permit?
In England and Wales, a “regulated facility” under regulation 8(1) of EPR 2016: installations, mobile plant, waste and mining waste operations, radioactive substances, water discharge and groundwater activities, small waste incineration plant, solvent emission activities, flood risk activities, medium combustion plant and specified generators.
SI 2026/873 adds three further classes from 22 July 2027, bringing waste carriers, brokers and dealers into permitting in England.
What is an MCPD permit?
A permit for a medium combustion plant under the Medium Combustion Plant Directive as transposed into EPR 2016: a combustion plant with a rated thermal input of at least 1 megawatt and less than 50 megawatts.
The Environment Agency’s guidance says an MCP includes the combustion unit, any abatement, the stack or flue and integral air cooling.
What are the medium combustion plant deadlines?
Two dates for each size.
An existing MCP above 5 MWth needed a permit by 1 January 2024 and must meet emission limit values from 1 January 2025.
An existing MCP of 1 to 5 MWth needs a permit by 1 January 2029 and must meet emission limit values from 1 January 2030.
Does every environmental permit holder report to the pollution inventory?
No. In England and Wales the duty comes from a notice under regulation 61(1) of EPR 2016, served on Part A(1) permit holders, plus a few non-notice triggers such as sewage works of 100,000 population equivalent or more.
The Environment Agency’s reporting period runs from 1 January to 28 February each year.
Scotland and Northern Ireland run their own inventories under their own notice powers.
Does the EU’s 2024 Industrial Emissions Directive recast apply in the UK?
No. Directive (EU) 2024/1785 has no domestic effect in England and Wales.
Schedule 7 of EPR 2016 still gives effect to the 2010 Directive as it stood at the end of the transition period, subject to UK amendments.
How do permit breaches affect the charges I pay?
In England the Environment Agency scores every non-compliance at a waste operation or installation: 60 points for a category 1 breach, 31 for category 2, 4 for category 3 and 0.1 for category 4.
The year’s total sets a band from A to F, and the band sets next year’s subsistence charge at between 95% and 300% of the baseline, with no enforcement action needed.
Does F-gas law apply the same way across the UK?
No. The HFC phase-down regulation applies as retained law in Great Britain, with the domestic F-gas Regulations 2015 alongside it.
In Northern Ireland EU F-gas law applies under the Windsor Framework, and the GB instrument reaches Northern Ireland only for import, export and GB–NI trade.
Is SI 2026/873 about air emissions?
No. It brings waste carriers, brokers and dealers into the permitting regime in England, replacing registration with permits through a new Schedule 25D.
Its main provisions come into force on 22 July 2027.
It does not touch the medium combustion plant or Industrial Emissions Directive provisions.
Sources
Primary sources
Every figure, date and status on this page traces to the instrument’s owner.
Secondary commentary is never the source for a number.
- legislation.gov.ukEnvironmental Permitting (England and Wales) Regulations 2016, SI 2016/1154
The instrument, including the reg 8(1) list of regulated facilities.
- legislation.gov.ukSI 2016/1154, regulation 1(2)–(3)
“These Regulations extend to England and Wales only.”
- legislation.gov.ukSI 2016/1154, regulation 12(1A)
The medium combustion plant permit deadlines.
- legislation.gov.ukSI 2016/1154, Schedule 25A
The MCP definition (¶2(1)) and the emission limit value dates (¶6(3)–(4)).
- legislation.gov.ukSI 2016/1154, Schedule 7
Part A installations: the Industrial Emissions Directive.
- legislation.gov.ukSI 2016/1154, regulation 61
The notice power behind the pollution inventory.
- legislation.gov.ukEnvironmental Authorisations (Scotland) Regulations 2018, regulation 37
SEPA’s notice power for SPRI returns.
- legislation.gov.ukPollution Prevention and Control (Industrial Emissions) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2013, regulation 32
Northern Ireland’s inventory notice power.
- legislation.gov.ukSI 2026/873, regulation 1
Waste carriers, brokers and dealers brought into permitting from 22 July 2027.
- legislation.gov.ukThe Fluorinated Greenhouse Gases Regulations 2015, SI 2015/310
GB enforcement and certification; Northern Ireland only for trade.
- legislation.gov.ukThe Ozone-Depleting Substances Regulations 2015, regulation 1(3)
Extends to Great Britain; Northern Ireland only for import and export.
- GOV.UK (Environment Agency)Medium combustion plant: when you need a permit
Applies to England and Wales; what an MCP includes and which plant is excluded.
- GOV.UK (Environment Agency)Assessing and scoring environmental permit compliance
Breach points, bands A–F and the subsistence charge multiplier, England.
- GOV.UK (Environment Agency)General guidance: pollution inventory reporting
Who reports, and the 1 January to 28 February reporting period.
- SEPAScottish Pollutant Release Inventory
The “Regulation 37(1) Notice”.
- DAERAPollution inventory reporting guidance
The Northern Ireland inventory.
- GOV.UK (Defra)Fluorinated gases (F gases)
The 79% HFC phase-down, and the baseline it states.
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