UK jeopardises global cooperation by refusing UN findings

UN summit forced to postpone adoption of findings against UK for four years, after UK Ministers break with long-standing convent. 

Campaigners say the UK government is jeopardising decades of international cooperation after it refused to endorse findings by the Compliance Committee of the Aarhus Convention in Switzerland this week.

The UN-backed Compliance Committee found the UK had breached its duty to involve the public in developing new laws that could significantly affect the environment.

Friends of the Earth and Wildlife and Countryside Link say the UK's decision undermines the Aarhus Convention – a landmark international environmental justice treaty guaranteeing the public right to information, justice and decision-making, as well as protection for environmental defenders. The campaigners argue the UK's decision risks undoing decades of international cooperation on environmental justice and transparency.

Earlier this year, following a case brought by Friends of the Earth, the Compliance Committee of the Aarhus Convention found that the UK had failed to ensure proper public participation when drafting post-Brexit legislation. It also found that the UK lacks a consistent system for consulting citizens on new laws with significant environmental implications in general, so that what happened post-Brexit was not a one off.

The UK has refused, however, to endorse the findings. It has also refused to endorse findings from an earlier complaint brought against the UK for the high costs of legal action, which has been running for over 15 years.

The UK’s move sent shockwaves through the Aarhus Meeting of the Parties (MOP) in Switzerland this week. UN case findings are normally adopted by consensus, with countries agreeing to endorse the findings and committing to remedy any breaches.

The UK government’s decision breaks with established practice, and its actions have forced the Aarhus MOP to postpone the ratification process, likely until the next Meeting of the Parties – which isn’t until 2029. The UK government recently said that it will uphold its obligations under the Convention and that it remains committed to it. But by rejecting the case findings, it has sent a starkly conflicting message.

Campaigners are concerned the UK's position risks setting a precedent for other governments to reject findings they dislike in the future.

Friends of the Earth’s senior lawyer, Katie de Kauwe, who attended the Aarhus MOP, said:

“By refusing to endorse the Aarhus Committee’s findings, the UK government has needlessly undermined an important treaty that gives ordinary people a voice in decisions that affect their environment.

“The Committee’s findings on public participation were clear, logical and consistent with previous cases that the UK has previously endorsed.  

“But instead of working towards a constructive solution, such as one proposed by Friends of the Earth, the government has chosen to grandstand, attacking the merits of findings from a UN-backed expert legal Committee. In doing so, it risks weakening the Convention itself.

“The UK government’s actions could seriously erode the effectiveness of this landmark environmental treaty and may encourage other countries to reject rulings they don’t like too. As the Chair of the Compliance Committee noted, the importance of endorsing findings is ‘self-evident’.”

Carol Day, Chair of the Legal Strategy Group at Wildlife and Countryside Link, who has also been at the Aarhus MOP, said:

“In a shocking and unexpected twist, the UK announced that it would not be endorsing findings requiring the UK government to ensure that individuals, community groups and NGOs would not be priced out of court.

"This is not a new issue for the UK – the complaint has been running for over 15 years and has been previously endorsed at several previous Meetings of the Parties. We urge the UK to reconsider its decision, which sets a worrying precedent for the future operation of the UN compliance mechanism.”

UK breaks with convention

Until now, all Aarhus decisions have been agreed unanimously – except one, involving Belarus, which subsequently withdrew from the Convention.

However, less than two weeks before the MOP, the UK government wrote to the UN indicating that it would oppose the findings on public participation, and try to get them struck off the agenda entirely.

A key complaint of the UK government is that the public participation findings would cause ‘constitutional upheaval’. Campaigners reject this assessment. Friends of the Earth obtained advice from barrister Eevsan Krishnan of Blackstone Chambers, on potential ways for the UK to implement the case findings. Using this advice, Friends of the Earth had, prior to the MOP, presented a solution to the UK Government: use an independent regulator to enforce the public participation rights, modelled on what already exists in other contexts in the UK. Disappointingly, the UK made no reference to this at the MOP.

The UK has also refused to endorse a previous, long-standing decision on costs. The Aarhus Committee has repeatedly found that the UK’s cost rules are not compliant with the Aarhus Convention. At the last three MOPs, the UK had accepted this. But this time, it announced on the first day of the MOP, that it would refuse to endorse even these findings.

Notes to editors:

1. The eighth session of the Meeting of the Parties to the Aarhus Convention is taking place in Geneva (17-20 November 2025). Friends of the Earth's senior lawyer, Katie de Kauwe is attending, alongside Carol Day of Wildlife and Countryside Link.
2. The UK has refused to endorse Decision VIII/8u, relating to a) findings in the C150 case on Article 8 brought by Friends of the Earth, and b) also a previously endorsed decision on cost protection in environmental law cases.
   The Aarhus Convention, which the UK has signed up to, along with 46 other parties, is an important environmental justice treaty, British lawyers helped draft it.
3. Friends of the Earth has written a briefing on it’s public participation C160 case. The case was led by Friends of the Earth’s Will Rundle, Head of Legal and Katie de Kauwe, Senior Lawyer. The NGO’s external barrister team was David Wolfe KC and Toby Fisher, of Matrix Chambers.
4. Friends of the Earth has written a press release on the case findings draft ruling.
5. The Case findings are available on PDF, draft findings were circulated to the parties to the case in July 2025.
6. Attached is the UK’s letter of 6 November 2025 in response to the findings.