Divergence, Dismantling, Disintegration? What Are the Future Prospects for Environmental Policy in a Post-Brexit World?

The United Kingdom’s (UK) decision to leave the European Union (EU) has raised concerns amongst the wider environmental community of a wide-scale dismantling of environmental protections that have been established via UK membership of the EU. Moreover, the stage is set for a dispute between the UK’s devolved nations of Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, and central government over who holds the power to devise and deliver environmental policy in a post-Brexit era. Theories of disintegration and de-Europeanization provide useful conceptual toolkits for evaluating the likely impacts of Brexit on environmental policy. A review of the empirical evidence to date suggests that wide scale policy dismantling is unlikely. EU membership has wrought deep-seated changes that will be difficult to reverse in the short term. Disengagement and policy stagnation are presented as more likely environmental outcomes of Brexit.