We seek to safeguard the quality of the environment through effective regulation of activities that have the potential to impact on air, water and land. This involves engagement with businesses and the public to provide information and advice; monitoring, recording, reporting and setting standards for compliance; issuing consents, licences, permits and authorisations and enforcing legislation.
The Integrated Pollution Prevention and Control (IPPC) Directive requires an integrated approach to the permitting of, and ongoing regulation of, scheduled activities. The requirements of the Directive are similar to those on processes subject to integrated central control under the Industrial Pollution Control (Northern Ireland) Order 1997, with two important differences: the Directive applies an integrated approach to a wider range of activities and it requires that a wider range of environmental issues are taken into account, such as noise, energy efficiency, site condition, raw material usage.
The Industrial Pollution and Radiochemical Inspectorate (IPRI) is responsible for
controlling the keeping and use of radioactive material and the disposal of radioactive waste under
the Radioactive Substances Act 1993. Certificates of Registration are issued to permit the keeping and
use of radioactive material and Certificates of Authorisation are used to permit the accumulation and
disposal of radioactive waste. IPRI enforces the statutory control of the transport of radioactive material.
The European Union Emissions Trading Scheme (EU ETS) is used by the EU to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and combat the global threat of climate change. The scheme is designed to help meet the EU’s targets set in the Kyoto Protocol. The first phase ended in December 2007, while the second phase runs to coincide with the first phase of the Kyoto Commitment Period 2008-2012.