Environmental consultancy
EIA and environmental statements, ecology and biodiversity net gain, contaminated land, air quality, noise, environmental permits.
Read by a planning authority or regulator; bounded by a site or project.Environmental consultants · where the work divides
Environmental sustainability consultancy UK
Environmental sustainability consultancy works on the organisation, while environmental consultancy in the planning sense works on a site or a project, so name your trigger before you call anyone.
UK SRS is an independent reference site. We have assessed no consultancy and publish no consultancy prices or rankings.
Two trades, one word
Environmental consultancy and environmental sustainability consultancy
Environmental sustainability consultancy measures and manages an organisation’s own environmental performance, from its footprint to its reporting.
Environmental consultancy, in the sense most UK searches mean, assesses a site or a project for a planning authority or a regulator.
Read the detailed guidance and references
Start from the trigger: a project needing consent, or an organisation needing numbers, systems or a report.
Environmental sustainability consultancy
Carbon footprints, ISO 14001, ESOS, SECR, sustainability reporting and strategy.
Read by the board, investors, customers or the registrar; bounded by the organisation.Search results show the split: a search for environmental consultants returns ecology, planning and land firms and their directories.
A search for environmental sustainability consulting firms returns corporate sustainability firms and rankings instead.
Many multidisciplinary firms sell both, usually from different teams with different professional bodies.
The wider market of corporate firms is described, unranked, in the sustainability consulting firms guide.
Who reads the output?Explore
Module 01 / 04
Planning authority
Reads the environmental statement and surveys.
Module 02 / 04
Regulator
Reads permit applications and returns.
Module 03 / 04
Board
Owns the footprint, systems and strategy.
Module 04 / 04
Investors and customers
Read the disclosure and questionnaires.
Planning
EIA and the environmental statement: competent experts
In England an EIA application must be accompanied by an environmental statement, under regulation 18(1) of the EIA Regulations 2017.
The developer must ensure the statement is prepared by competent experts and must say what their expertise or qualifications are, under regulation 18(5).
Read the detailed guidance and references
The Regulations came into force on 16 May 2017 and apply in relation to England only, under regulation 1.
At minimum the statement describes the development, its likely significant effects, the measures envisaged to avoid, prevent, reduce or offset them, the reasonable alternatives studied, and a non-technical summary.
The Regulations name no particular qualification, so “competent” is a judgement the developer has to evidence.
That makes the voluntary schemes in the professional bodies section useful evidence, not a legal test.
What an environmental statement contains at minimum, under regulation 18(3)
Step 1 of 5
Likely significant effects
The likely significant effects of the development on the environment.
reg 18(3)(b)Avoid, reduce, offset
Features or measures envisaged to avoid, prevent or reduce and, if possible, offset significant adverse effects.
reg 18(3)(c)Reasonable alternatives
The alternatives studied and the main reasons for the option chosen.
reg 18(3)(d)The statement serves the decisionExplore
Module 01 / 04
Screening
Is the development EIA development?
Module 02 / 04
Scoping
Which effects the statement must cover.
Module 03 / 04
Assessment
Likely significant effects and alternatives.
Module 04 / 04
Mitigation
Measures to avoid, reduce or offset.
Ecology
Biodiversity net gain and ecology surveys
In England, most planning permissions now carry a deemed condition that the development delivers at least 10% biodiversity net gain, under Schedule 7A to the Town and Country Planning Act 1990.
The gain can come from on-site habitat, registered off-site gain or statutory credits, so the 10% need not all be delivered on site.
Read the detailed guidance and references
Schedule 7A began for applications under Part 3 of the 1990 Act on 12 February 2024, by SI 2024/44, and the temporary exemption for small sites lapsed for applications from 2 April 2024, under SI 2024/47.
Crown development came into scope on 1 May 2025, and for nationally significant infrastructure the objective applies to DCO applications made on or after 2 November 2026, through the government’s biodiversity gain statements.
The exemptions changed again on 6 August 2026, by SI 2026/790, so check the current exemptions before accepting that a scheme falls outside the rules.
This is ecology and planning work, and the professional body most buyers check is CIEEM, covered below.
Biodiversity net gain is not a company reporting duty, and corporate nature disclosure is a different, voluntary exercise described on the TNFD guide.
A planning condition, not a reportExplore
Module 01 / 04
Baseline
Pre-development biodiversity value.
Module 02 / 04
Metric
The statutory biodiversity metric.
Module 03 / 04
Gain plan
Approved by the planning authority.
Module 04 / 04
Maintenance
Where a significant on-site gain is counted.
Permits and land
Permits, contaminated land, air and noise
In England and Wales, a person must not operate a regulated facility except under and to the extent authorised by an environmental permit, under regulation 12(1) of the Environmental Permitting Regulations 2016.
An environmental compliance consultant in this sense helps an operator obtain, vary and meet the conditions of that permit.
Read the detailed guidance and references
The 2016 Regulations extend to England and Wales only; Scotland and Northern Ireland permit under their own instruments.
In England the Environment Agency scores permit breaches at waste operations and installations and places each site in a compliance band from A to F.
Under Part 2A of the Environmental Protection Act 1990, land is contaminated land where it appears to the local authority to be causing, or to have a significant possibility of causing, significant harm or significant pollution of controlled waters, under section 78A(2).
The determination is the local authority’s, made under statutory guidance, so a consultant’s site investigation informs it but does not make it.
Air quality and noise assessments are usually commissioned as technical chapters of a planning application or as permit evidence, which is why they sit with environmental consultancy.
The permitting regimes for air emissions are set out on environmental permitting for air emissions.
Operate within the consentExplore
Module 01 / 04
Permit
Apply for and vary the permit.
Module 02 / 04
Conditions
Monitor and report as required.
Module 03 / 04
Breaches
Scored by the regulator.
Module 04 / 04
Land
Investigate and remediate where needed.
Where sustainability begins
Where environmental sustainability consultancy begins
Environmental sustainability consultancy starts where the boundary becomes the organisation rather than the site.
Its outputs are a footprint, a management system, a compliance submission, a report or a strategy, each with its own specialist page on this site.
Read the detailed guidance and references
| Work | Typical trigger | Rule or standard most often met | Specialist guide |
|---|---|---|---|
| Carbon footprint | A customer, lender or bid asks for your emissions | GHG Protocol; SECR; PPN 006 | Carbon footprint consultancy |
| Environmental management system | A tender or customer asks for certification | ISO 14001:2026, published 15 April 2026 | ISO 14001 consultant |
| ESOS | Qualification on 31 December 2026 | SI 2014/1643; a lead assessor on an approved register | ESOS consultants |
| SECR | A quoted company, or an unquoted company not meeting two “not more than” conditions | SI 2008/410 Sch 7 Part 7A | SECR consultancy |
| Strategy | The board wants priorities, targets and a plan | UK SRS S1 and S2 where reported | Sustainability strategy consultancy |
An accredited certification body, not the consultant, certifies an ISO 14001 system, and UKAS accredits bodies, never consultants.
ESOS is the one corporate job on this list where the law names who must review the work, a lead assessor on an approved register, as the Environment Agency’s guidance sets out.
The organisation is the boundaryExplore
Module 01 / 04
Measure
A footprint under a stated method.
Module 02 / 04
Manage
An environmental management system.
Module 03 / 04
Comply
ESOS and SECR where they apply.
Module 04 / 04
Disclose
Reports and strategy for readers outside.
Both benches
Multidisciplinary environmental sustainability consultancy: check the bench
A multidisciplinary environmental sustainability consultancy has a planning-side bench and a corporate bench under one name.
That helps when one brief genuinely spans both, and it costs you nothing to check that the people proposed are the firm’s own employees.
Read the detailed guidance and references
The common bridge is data: a site’s energy and fuel records, its permit returns and its habitat baseline can each inform corporate reporting, but none is a corporate disclosure on its own.
A permit return goes to the regulator, and a footprint for SECR goes in the directors’ report, so the two use different boundaries and different methods.
Ask which team leads each deliverable, who signs it off, and who carries data from one team to the other.
Ask whether any part is subcontracted, and to whom.
One name, several teamsExplore
Module 01 / 04
Planning team
EIA, ecology, land, air and noise.
Module 02 / 04
Corporate team
Footprint, systems, reporting.
Module 03 / 04
Hand-off
Who carries data between them?
Module 04 / 04
Lead
One accountable person for the brief.
Route your trigger
Environmental consultant or environmental sustainability consultant?
Tick the triggers that apply to you, and the panel says which kind of consultant each one needs, the rule behind it and the signal a buyer can check.
Two common triggers are ticked so the answer is visible before you choose anything.
Open the router
Which consultant does each trigger need?
Environmental consultancy
A planning application that may be EIA development: An environmental statement and its technical chapters.
Read by: The planning authority.
Signal to check: The developer’s statement of the experts’ qualifications (reg 18(5)); ISEP EIA Quality Mark registrants.
EIA Regulations 2017 (SI 2017/571) reg 18; England only
Environmental sustainability consultancy
A customer, lender or tender asks for our carbon footprint: An organisational footprint under a stated method.
Read by: The customer, lender or contracting authority.
Signal to check: A method statement; an independent verifier is a separate appointment.
GHG Protocol; PPN 006 for in-scope central government contracts
Your triggers span both trades, so a multidisciplinary firm may fit; ask which named people lead each part and whether they are its own employees.
A scoping aid, not legal advice; it names no firm and checks no register for you.
Nothing you choose is stored or sent.
Start from the triggerExplore
Module 01 / 04
Trigger
What has asked for the work?
Module 02 / 04
Reader
Who will read the output?
Module 03 / 04
Rule
Which provision applies?
Module 04 / 04
Signal
Which register or scheme to check.
Signals a buyer can check
Professional bodies a buyer can check
None of these schemes is a legal requirement for planning or permit work, but each is a claim you can check yourself at the body that runs it.
This site holds none of them and endorses no firm that does.
Read the detailed guidance and references
The Institute of Environmental Management and Assessment is now the Institute of Sustainability and Environmental Professionals, renamed on 8 January 2025, so “MIEMA” on a 2026 proposal is out-of-date lettering, not an invalid grade.
ISEP’s membership page describes Affiliate membership as an online sign-up, while its professional grades are assessed.
ISEP’s EIA Quality Mark is a voluntary scheme for organisations that lead the co-ordination of statutory UK EIAs, with registrants’ commitments independently reviewed by ISEP.
CIEEM points buyers to its Registered Practices Directory and its Accredited Ecological Clerk of Works Directory, and says every Registered Practice must have a complaints policy.
CIEEM’s Chartered Ecologist register was not accepting new applications when read on 11 October 2026, ahead of a new process from January 2027.
Chartered Environmentalist status is awarded by the Society for the Environment through licensed member bodies, and a master’s degree is not required.
| Signal | Who runs it | What it describes | Where to check |
|---|---|---|---|
| EIA Quality Mark | ISEP | An organisation that co-ordinates statutory EIAs | Registrant list |
| Registered Practice | CIEEM | An ecology or environmental practice | Directory |
| Chartered Ecologist (CEcol) | CIEEM | An individual ecologist | CIEEM |
| Chartered Environmentalist (CEnv) | Society for the Environment | An individual | SocEnv |
| ISEP professional grade | ISEP | An individual; Affiliate is not assessed | ISEP |
| ESOS lead assessor | Approved register bodies | An individual on an approved register | Environment Agency |
The membership bodies are compared on sustainability membership organisations, and the career routes on how to become a sustainability consultant.
Check at the ownerExplore
Module 01 / 04
ISEP
Formerly IEMA; EIA Quality Mark.
Module 02 / 04
CIEEM
Registered Practices; CEcol.
Module 03 / 04
Society for the Environment
Chartered Environmentalist.
Module 04 / 04
Registers
ESOS lead assessors; UKAS bodies.
Before you call anyone
Briefing an environmental sustainability consultancy
Brief an environmental sustainability consultancy with the trigger, the boundary and the named output, because those decide which team and which body are relevant.
“We need environmental support” gets a capability deck, while “we need a footprint for our SECR report” gets a comparable proposal.
Read the detailed guidance and references
For planning work, attach the scoping opinion if you have one, because regulation 18(4) ties the statement to it.
For corporate work, attach last year’s figures, the entities in scope and any customer questionnaire that started the request.
Ask for days by grade and named people, because this site publishes no prices and has assessed no firm’s fees.
A scope two firms can price alikeExplore
Module 01 / 04
Trigger
The consent, permit, rule or request.
Module 02 / 04
Boundary
Site, project or organisation.
Module 03 / 04
Output
The named deliverable and its reader.
Module 04 / 04
Evidence
Data you hold and data to collect.
Due diligence
What to ask before you appoint
Which scheme or register does the firm or the named individual hold, and does the body’s own directory confirm it?
For an environmental statement, what will the developer’s statement of the experts’ qualifications say?
Read the detailed guidance and references
For an ISO 14001 project, which certification body will audit, and is it accredited by UKAS for that scheme?
For ESOS, is the lead assessor on an approved register, and have you checked it yourself?
The general selection process is in how to choose a sustainability consultant.
What this page does not do
It names no firm, ranks none, quotes no price and claims no credential for this site.
Test the claimsExplore
Module 01 / 04
Scheme
Which register or mark, and can I check it?
Module 02 / 04
People
Who does the work, and are they employees?
Module 03 / 04
Method
Which rule, metric or standard?
Module 04 / 04
Ownership
Who owns the data and models?
Illustrative brief · no consultancy assessed
A worked brief: a manufacturer expands its site
An illustrative manufacturer adding a production line needs planning-side work for the consent and the permit, and corporate work for its footprint and reporting.
Brief the two benches separately, name one lead, and ask how site data will reach the corporate figures.
View the workflow diagram
- 1
Consent
Planning application, environmental statement if EIA development, and biodiversity net gain.
- 2
Permit
A variation to the environmental permit for the new process.
- 3
Organisation
The new plant’s energy feeds the footprint, ESOS and SECR.
Each date has a different meaning
The relevant dates, in order
Check who each date applies to and whether it is a commencement, a change or a corporate deadline.
- 16 May 201701
EIA Regulations 2017 in force
The environmental statement and its competent-experts duty, England. - 12 February 202402
Biodiversity net gain begins
Schedule 7A commenced for Part 3 planning applications in England. - 2 April 202403
Small sites brought in
The temporary exemption for small development lapsed for applications from this date. - 8 January 202504
IEMA becomes ISEP
The legal name change; the public rebrand followed on 17 July 2025. - 6 August 202605
BNG exemptions amended
SI 2026/790 changed the exemptions; check the made instrument, not only the revised text. - 2 November 202606
BNG for DCO applications
Nationally significant infrastructure, through the biodiversity gain statements. - 31 December 202607
ESOS Phase 4 qualification date
The corporate side: size on this day decides whether Phase 4 applies. - January 202708
New CEcol process
CIEEM’s new Chartered Ecologist application process, as read on 11 October 2026.
A suggested delivery sequence
From the trigger to the handover
This is an editorial buying sequence, not a statutory timetable or a promise about how long the work takes.
- 01 / Trigger01
Trigger
Name the consent, permit, rule or request behind the work. - 02 / Boundary02
Boundary
Decide whether the work is bounded by a site, a project or the organisation. - 03 / Signals03
Signals
Check the scheme, register or accreditation relevant to that work. - 04 / Delivery04
Delivery
Agree named people, outputs and the data each team needs. - 05 / Handover05
Handover
Keep the files, models and evidence for next year or the next application.
Frequently asked
Environmental consultants, answered
What does an environmental sustainability consultancy do?
An environmental sustainability consultancy helps an organisation measure and manage its own environmental performance: a carbon footprint, an ISO 14001 environmental management system, ESOS and SECR compliance, sustainability reporting and strategy.
That is different from environmental consultancy in the planning sense, which assesses the effects of a site or project for a planning authority or regulator.
What does an environmental consultant do?
In the UK the term usually means planning-led and permit-led work: the environmental statement for an EIA application, ecology surveys and biodiversity net gain, contaminated land investigation, air quality and noise assessment, and environmental permit applications and compliance.
The output is read by a planning authority or a regulator about a site or a project.
What is the difference between environmental consultancy and sustainability consultancy?
Environmental consultancy is usually bounded by a site or project and read by a planning authority or regulator.
Sustainability consultancy is usually bounded by the organisation and read by its board, investors, customers or the registrar of companies.
Many multidisciplinary firms do both, under separate teams.
Who prepares an environmental statement?
The developer is responsible for it.
Under regulation 18(5) of the EIA Regulations 2017, which apply in England, the developer must ensure the statement is prepared by competent experts and must include a statement of their relevant expertise or qualifications.
The Regulations name no particular qualification.
Is there a register of ecological consultants?
CIEEM, the Chartered Institute of Ecology and Environmental Management, runs a Registered Practices Directory and an Accredited Ecological Clerk of Works Directory, and points buyers to them.
CIEEM also runs the Chartered Ecologist register for individuals; as read on 11 October 2026 it was not accepting new applications ahead of a new process from January 2027.
Is IEMA still the professional body for environmental consultants?
IEMA is now ISEP, the Institute of Sustainability and Environmental Professionals: the same company, renamed on 8 January 2025, with the public rebrand on 17 July 2025.
ISEP runs the voluntary EIA Quality Mark for organisations that co-ordinate statutory EIAs, and its professional membership grades are assessed; Affiliate membership is not.
What is a Chartered Environmentalist?
Chartered Environmentalist (CEnv) is a registration awarded by the Society for the Environment through its licensed member bodies.
It assesses eleven competences and master’s-level thinking, shown by a degree or by written work at that level. It describes an individual, not a firm.
What is an environmental compliance consultant?
Usually a consultant who helps an operator meet the conditions of its environmental permits and other site consents, such as monitoring, reporting to the regulator and managing breaches.
Corporate compliance with ESOS or SECR is a different job, normally sold as sustainability or carbon consultancy.
Do I need a multidisciplinary environmental sustainability consultancy?
Only if your brief genuinely spans both: for example, a site project that needs planning consent and also feeds a corporate footprint or report.
Ask which named people on the proposal are the firm’s own employees, and which team leads each part.
Which are the best environmental consulting firms in the UK?
This site ranks no firm and has assessed none.
Commercial rankings measure size or reputation on their own criteria; for your project, check the registers and schemes that apply to the work, and ask for permitted examples of the same kind of job.
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.
Checked against 23 sources fromlegislation.gov.ukEnvironment AgencyGOV.UKCIEEMISEPSociety for the Environment
- legislation.gov.ukThe Town and Country Planning (Environmental Impact Assessment) Regulations 2017 (SI 2017/571), regulation 18
The environmental statement, its minimum contents and the “competent experts” duty.
- legislation.gov.ukSI 2017/571, regulation 1
In force 16 May 2017; applies in relation to England only.
- legislation.gov.ukThe Environmental Permitting (England and Wales) Regulations 2016 (SI 2016/1154), regulation 12
No regulated facility may operate except under an environmental permit.
- legislation.gov.ukSI 2016/1154, regulation 1
The Regulations extend to England and Wales only.
- Environment AgencyAssessing and scoring environmental permit compliance
Breach points and compliance bands A to F, England.
- legislation.gov.ukEnvironmental Protection Act 1990, section 78A
Part 2A: the definition of contaminated land and the enforcing authority.
- legislation.gov.ukTown and Country Planning Act 1990, Schedule 7A
Biodiversity net gain: the 10% objective and the deemed condition, England.
- legislation.gov.ukThe Environment Act 2021 (Commencement No. 8 and Transitional Provisions) Regulations 2024 (SI 2024/44)
Schedule 7A commenced for Part 3 applications on 12 February 2024.
- legislation.gov.ukThe Biodiversity Gain Requirements (Exemptions) Regulations 2024 (SI 2024/47)
The small-sites exemption, for applications made before 2 April 2024.
- legislation.gov.ukThe Biodiversity Gain (Town and Country Planning) (Amendments and Transitional Provisions) (England) Regulations 2026 (SI 2026/790)
Biodiversity gain amendments in force 6 August 2026.
- GOV.UKBiodiversity gain statements for nationally significant infrastructure projects
The objective applies to DCO applications made on or after 2 November 2026.
- CIEEMFinding a Consultant
The Registered Practices Directory and the Accredited ECoW Directory.
- CIEEMRegistered Practices
What a Registered Practice is, in CIEEM’s words.
- CIEEMChartered Ecologist (CEcol)
New applications paused; a new process from January 2027 (read 11 October 2026).
- ISEPEIA Quality Mark
A voluntary scheme for organisations that co-ordinate statutory UK EIAs.
- ISEPEvolution: from IEMA to ISEP
The Institute of Environmental Management and Assessment is now ISEP.
- ISEPMembership
Affiliate membership is an online sign-up; professional grades are assessed.
- Society for the EnvironmentChartered Environmentalist
Eleven competences; master’s-level thinking, by degree or written work.
- Environment AgencyHow to comply with ESOS Phase 4
The lead assessor and the Phase 4 dates.
- legislation.gov.ukSI 2014/1643, regulation 4
ESOS Phase 4: qualification date 31 December 2026, compliance date 5 December 2027.
- legislation.gov.ukSI 2008/410, Schedule 7, paragraph 20B
SECR’s “not more than” conditions for unquoted companies.
- ISOISO 14001:2026 published
The fourth edition, published 15 April 2026.
- UKASFind an accredited organisation
UKAS accredits certification and verification bodies, not consultants.
Continue reading
Read next
Directory
Sustainability consulting firms
Selection criteria tied to the law, and an unranked A–Z directory.
Systems
ISO 14001 consultant
Building an environmental management system, and who certifies it.
Measurement
Carbon footprint consultancy
Which footprint each rule asks for, and which claims to check.
ESOS
ESOS consultants
Lead assessors, approved registers and the Phase 4 dates.
Strategy
Sustainability strategy consultancy
Materiality, targets, transition plans and governance, phase by phase.
Permits
Environmental permitting
EPR 2016, medium combustion plant and permit compliance bands.