Recent Successes

In recent years WWF-UK has been in the forefront of campaigning in the UK and the EU to change legislation and policy to protect our environment and biodiversity here in the UK and worldwide. Recent major successes include:

2010: WWF welcomes the EU Regulation to control the import of illegal timber. If the law is adopted it will mean that from 2012, illegal timber and timber products will be banned from the EU market and that companies importing timber will have to provide information about the country of origin of the timber they use and its legality.

2009: We welcome the announcement in November 2009 by Andrew Mitchell, the Conservatives' International Development spokesperson, that if they win the next election they'll stop the ECGD's support for dirty fossil fuel projects, and instead use this financial support for green, renewable energy projects.

2009: The Marine and Coastal Access Act 2009 is passed, marking the end of a decade-long campaign by WWF and other organisatins to protect our seas. Among other things, the Act includes a legally binding duty on the Government to designate a network of protected areas to recover and improve our marine environment.

2008: WWF celebrates climate success as the Climate Change Bill becomes an Act of Parliament.  Notable successes include strengthening the target for the UK to cut greenhouse gas emissions. The target now matches the most up-to-date science, which calls for reductions of at least 80% by the middle of the century, and for emissions from international flights and shipping to be accounted for in the scope of the legislation.

2008: The government accepted an amendment to the Climate Change Bill to require the government to make public the greenhouse gas emissions from carbon-heavy projects supported by its Export Credit Guarantee Department. 

2008: The government accepted an amendment to the Planning Bill for regional planning bodies to include policies to tackle climate change.

2008: After eight years of campaigning by WWF for new effective marine legislation, the government announced the inclusion of a UK Marine Bill in the 2008/09 session.

2007: As a result of WWF’s One Million Sustainable Homes campaign, the government launched a Code for Sustainable Homes and committed to all new homes being zero-carbon by 2016.

2006: WWF campaigned to strengthen the EU REACH legislation (Registration, Evaluation and Authorisation of Chemicals) to ensure proper regulation of hazardous man-made chemicals.

2005: WWF campaigned for a change in the UK's Criminal Justice Act to allow police officers to arrest people selling illegal products derived from endangered species.