The topic we’re looking at this week is a big one, and a fundamentally important one, encompassing the air we breathe, the water we drink, the food we eat. Jon Henley is joined by an expert panel to try to figure out what on earth Brexit will mean for our environment

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The topic we are looking at this week is a big one, and a fundamentally important one – it boils down to the air we breathe, the water we drink, the food we eat … it’s the environment.

The UK’s membership of the EU has played a major role in our environmental protection. From wildlife safeguards to energy efficiency, air pollution to marine conservation, the EU has led in pushing through vital measures. To such an extent, in fact, that more than 1,100 UK environmental laws were made at EU level. According to the House of Commons environmental audit committee, 80% of our environmental rules stem from EU directives.

All of which begs the question: what happens to all of that legislation after Brexit? Many of them will not be easily transferable, and although the environment secretary, Michael Gove, has promised a “green Brexit” that will set global standards on everything from animal welfare to air quality, campaigners worry that in the bold new post-Brexit great trading nation of Britain, protections may get watered down, left behind or, perhaps most alarming, simply ignored.

So what is the environmental risk from Brexit, and what should we be doing to try to minimise it? With Jon Henley to discuss all this are the Guardian’s environment correspondent, Fiona Harvey; Tom Burke, the co-founding director and chairman of the environmental thinktank E3G, who has been advising governments and corporations on matters environmental for more than 30 years; and Solitaire Townsend, co-founder of the sustainability agency Futerra.