Peak body roadshow November 2021

What is the EPA doing around education, advice, and support for industry?

When we launched our regulatory strategy following consultation in 2021 we outlined eight elements of our regulatory approach – influence, listen, educate, enable, act, enforce, monitor, and require.

Fulfilling these elements includes working to provide more support and advice to industry to achieve best practice, and meeting with stakeholders through the roadshows, is just one part of this.

We’re increasing our communication to provide advice early on emerging risks including weather events. We ask our licensees to let us know early when they identify a risk so that we can work with them for a better outcome. We are working on being more service-orientated and engaging early with industry, government and community.

We’re always keen to hear ideas about how to promote best practice for better outcomes for the environment and human health. We’re focused on taking meaningful steps to solve problems, be timely in responding to requests and incidents, and communicating clearly and meaningfully.

We have an Engagement, Education and Programs Directorate that has a range of initiatives to facilitate and support education and consultation sessions on key regulatory matters. And, we have a new customer service strategy under development and engagement framework aimed at setting a wholistic approach to interactions with our customer, partners and stakeholders.

• View our Regulatory Strategy

In our new Strategic Plan we have identified five strategic areas of focus for our work

1. Ecologically sustainable development
2. Waste
3. Water quality
4. Legacy and emerging contaminants
5. Climate change

Together our Regulatory Strategy and Strategic Plan outline how we’re aiming to achieve our ambition to be a world class regulator, and how we’ll use all our regulatory levers to protect and enhance the environment.

• View our new Strategic Plan 2021-24

Pesticides and dangerous goods are key areas of the EPA’s responsibility. Over the past 24-months we’ve made temporary exemptions to pesticides, dangerous goods, and radiation licence requirements where COVID-19 restrictions hampered people’s ability to undertake mandatory training.

Our Strategic Plan doesn’t explicitly cover all areas of our work, including pesticides or dangerous goods, but we consider they sit under our ongoing efforts towards regulation, risk mitigation and controls around harmful contaminants and protecting communities.

Pesticides and dangerous goods are key areas of the EPA’s responsibility.

• Read more on dangerous goods in NSW
• Read more on pesticides

How is the EPA using data and intelligence to inform regulatory decisions?

Our Digital Transformation Strategy 2021-2023 is guiding our investment in horizon scanning, intelligence, data, and technology. Data and analytics are all central parts of how we regulate.

Many of today’s environmental challenges such as climate change, waste management and resource recovery, loss of biodiversity and environmental degradation are complex and multi-dimensional. Our dedicated Intelligence and Analysis Unit develops strategic foresight intelligence providing long-term insights on significant issues and drivers of change.

We’re constantly improving by using data and insights to be a better regulator.

In the past two years we:

• have improved technology for collection and analysis – e.g. leveraging the World Economic Forum Strategic Intelligence tool; using large-data sets through access to Feedly accounts
• have built stronger external partnerships e.g. with the Australian Joint Agency Scanning Network and the Department of Premier and Cabinet Shaping Futures team.
• are using our new Environment Protection Incident and Cases management system, allowing us to track investigations and inspections from beginning to end

We recognise that responding to complexity requires collaboration and innovation. The Digital Transformation Strategy is nested with our other strategic plans. Digital tools are enabling the EPA to work with others and regulate more effectively to address challenges in ways we haven’t been able to do before.

How is the recent court case influencing the EPA’s work in Climate Change?

Climate Change is one of the five strategic focus areas in our Strategic Plan. We are committed to supporting and implementing the NSW Government's Climate Change Policy Framework and Net Zero Plan.

We are also responsible for letting the public know about the state of the NSW environment and how well the NSW Government is doing against the Net Zero Plan, in the NSW State of the Environment Report. Produced every three years, this report includes information from all NSW Government agencies that share responsibility for managing the state’s environmental assets. The latest report will be out in the next few months.  

We’re highly aware that combating climate change is not the role of one agency or government, it requires a combined response by all levels of government, industry, business and the community. The EPA is currently identifying future policies, guidelines, programs, and actions it will be taking to meet our strategic plan objectives.

• See our statement regarding the decision in the Land and Environment Court on the matter of Bushfire Survivors for Climate Action vs NSW EPA
• Read more about climate change.
  

How is the recent court case influencing the EPA’s work in Climate Change?

Climate Change is one of the five strategic focus areas in our Strategic Plan. We are committed to supporting and implementing the NSW Government's Climate Change Policy Framework and Net Zero Plan.

We are also responsible for letting the public know about the state of the NSW environment and how well the NSW Government is doing against the Net Zero Plan, in the NSW State of the Environment Report.  Produced every three years, this report includes information from all NSW Government agencies that share responsibility for managing the state’s environmental assets. The latest report will be out in the next few months.  

We’re highly aware that combating climate change is not the role of one agency or government, it requires a combined response by all levels of government, industry, business and the community. The EPA is currently identifying future policies, guidelines, programs, and actions it will be taking to meet our strategic plan objectives.

• See our statement regarding the decision in the Land and Environment Court on the matter of Bushfire Survivors for Climate Action vs NSW EPA
• Read more about climate change

What role does the EPA have in the new Waste and Sustainable Materials Strategy? What is the EPA doing towards achieving a net zero organics goal and do we have an implementation plan?

The EPA plays a lead role not only in the regulation and management of waste across NSW, but also in the delivery of the Waste and Sustainable Materials Strategy and the associated NSW Plastics Action Plan.

Here are some of the areas we're working on.

We are investing $16 million over five years to provide a new service to facilitate local government joint procurement of waste services. The joint procurement service aims to make it easier for local government to collectively procure waste services on behalf of their communities. We have released an options paper for key stakeholders to have their say on this initiative.

Action is already being taken by the NSW Government to ensure NSW achieves net zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050, and the EPA is a key contributor.

The EPA is leading programs under the Net Zero Plan Stage 1: 2020-2030 to support the aspirational goal of achieving net zero emissions from organic waste by 2030.  

When organic waste is properly composted and recycled it produces much less methane gas, soils can be improved to store carbon, and biogas can be created to generate electricity. To do this, we are leading the world in developing new policies to reduce waste going to landfill and considering programs to capture landfill gasses such as methane, under the new waste strategy. In development are new compost training resources to address technology, regulations, and requirements for organics processing.

We’re continuing to engage with and understand stakeholder needs to ensure they are met through the design and implementation of waste related strategic initiatives.

• View the NSW Waste and Sustainable Materials Strategy and NSW Plastics Action Plan
• View the NSW Plastics Action Plan

How is the EPA planning to engage with peak bodies in the future?

As outlined in our Annual Report 2020-2021, we are building customer service partnerships and engagement initiatives that create value and enhance our capability to solve environmental problems. Peak representative organisations are key to our work and outcomes-based focus.

We believe we can work better together through productive relationships, and we have a genuine commitment to engage more frequently with representative organisations through workshops, meetings, and communications. Our aim is to build even closer relationships, across government departments, industry, and jurisdictions.

Listening is key to being service oriented and having a learning mindset, and we are working hard to understand our stakeholders better.