Environment Agency
We were established to bring together responsibilities for protecting and improving the environment and to contribute to sustainable development. We seek to take an integrated approach in which we consider all elements of the environment when we plan and carry out our work. It allows us to identify the best environmental options and solutions, taking into account the different impacts on water, land, air, resources and energy.
We have three main roles:
- We are an environmental regulator – we take a risk-based approach and target our effort to maintain and improve environmental standards and to minimise unnecessary burdens on businesses.
- We are an environmental operator – we are a national organisation that operates locally. We work with people and communities across England and Wales to protect and improve the environment in an integrated way. We provide a vital incident response capability.
- We are an environmental adviser and champion for the environment – we compile and assess the best available evidence and use this to report on the state of the environment. We use our own monitoring information and that of others to inform this activity. We provide technical information and advice to national and local governments to support their roles in policy and decision-making.