The Environmental Principles Policy Statement (EPPS), that is designed to put the environment at the heart of the Executive, comes into effect today (September 2, 2026).
It means government ministers and officials have a legal duty to consider the potential positive and negative effects on the environment from the start of policy decisions and policy already being developed.
The EPPS covers five environmental principles set out in law, including the polluter pays principle.
Welcoming the introduction of the EPPS, OEP Chair, Dame Helen Ghosh, said: “In June we published our first progress report on how the Executive is doing against its commitments and targets in its Environmental Improvement Plan (EIP). We found the Executive is currently largely off track to achieve its environmental ambitions.
“Urgent and sustained action is now much needed. Planning must switch to delivery.
“The EPPS has the potential to play a key role in helping turn things around, but it needs to be implemented properly and embedded right across the whole of government and its departments if it is to deliver for the environment as it should.”
The chair added: “We believe that if implemented effectively the EPPS can be a powerful tool to assist in achieving improved policy coherence, support environmental protection and enhancement as well as helping drive delivery on the Executive’s environmental objectives.”
The OEP previously gave advice to the Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs (DAERA) in September 2023 as it was developing the legal principles and much of this is reflected in the EPPS.
The EPPS is one of the cornerstones of environmental governance in the Environment Act 2021, alongside the Act’s provisions for, the EIP and the OEP.
Its introduction follows the publication of the environmental governance review, requested by DAERA Minister Muir, that made numerous governance reform recommendations in October last year (2025).
Dame Helen said: “The environmental governance review and the EPPS are important and welcome steps in the right direction to strengthen environmental governance.
“However, as we have previously said, if stronger governance is to lead to better protection and improvement of the environment then, it is all in the ‘doing’. Effective implementation is vital for success.”
Given the significance of its role in environmental governance, the OEP will now take an active interest in the implementation of the EPPS across the Executive.
