Post-Brexit legal frameworks for environment and trade

Our latest briefing paper – Post-Brexit legal frameworks for environment and trade – provides an overview of the interaction between trade and environment in the UK post-Brexit. The first section gives an introduction to the interaction between international trade and environmental law. Section 2 considers the UK-EU relationship and the commitments on environmental protection in the UK-EU trade agreement. Section 3 outlines legislative competences for trade and environment in the UK and Section 4 highlights safeguards for environmental protection in domestic legislation relating to trade. The final section looks at the environment chapters, and climate commitments, of three of the UK’s new trade agreements, namely the UK-Japan agreement as an example of the UK’s so-called ‘continuity agreements’, and the free trade agreements with Australia and New Zealand. Recommendations are made to strengthen the coherence between trade and environmental protection in the UK post-Brexit.