Part 1: Environmental Governance Chapter 1: Improving the natural environment Section 4: Environmental targets: process
Section 4 sets out the process that must be followed by the Secretary of State before setting and amending any target.
	Subsection (1) requires the Secretary of State to seek advice from independent experts before making any regulations under sections 1, 2 and 3. This could involve consulting expert individuals or bodies, with the purpose of advising the Secretary of State on setting appropriate targets.
	Subsection (2) specifies that, when setting or amending a target, the Secretary of State must be satisfied that the target, or the amended target, can be met.
	Subsections (3) to (6) set out the process for amending a target so as to lower or revoke it. Lowering a target is defined in subsection (5) as a lowering of the standard to be achieved or an extension of the specified date for achieving the target. For example, where a target requires an increase in standard based on a numerical value, a reduction in that numerical value would constitute a lowering of the target.
	Subsection (3) provides that a target may only be lowered or revoked where the Secretary of State is satisfied that meeting the target would have no significant benefit as compared to not meeting it or meeting a lower target, or that because of a change in circumstances, the costs of meeting the target would be disproportionate to the benefits. Those costs might be of an environmental, social, economic, or other nature.
	Meeting a target may have no significant benefit – for example, if meeting it was anticipated to generate a health benefit, and new scientific evidence has now demonstrated that the same health benefit is achievable through meeting a revised or entirely new target.
	A change in circumstances may, for example, occur as a result of an event, such as a significant wild fire or major flood, taking place after the target is set. The financial costs, for example, of meeting the target may, following this change of circumstance, then be disproportionate to the benefits gained by meeting the target.
	Subsection (4) requires that, before lowering or revoking a target, the Secretary of State must publish and lay before Parliament a statement that explains why the Secretary of State is satisfied that one of the grounds in subsection (3) has been met.
	Subsection (6) prevents the Secretary of State from using the processes set out in this section to revoke the PM2.5 air quality target; however, the target may otherwise be amended in line with this section.
	Subsection (7) provides that, for the purposes of Part 1, a target is met where the specified standard is met by the specified date.
	Subsection (8) specifies that the regulations made under sections 1, 2 and 3 are subject to the affirmative procedure.
	Subsection (9) requires that a draft statutory instrument (or instruments) containing regulations setting the long-term targets for the priority areas required under section 1(2), the PM 2.5 air quality target set under section 2 and the species abundance target set under section 3 must be laid before Parliament by 31 October 2022.