Collection: Monitoring emissions to air, land and water (MCERTS)

Updated: New document ‘M5 Monitoring of stack gas emissions from medium combustion plants and specified generators’ added under the list of monitoring guides.

If your company needs to comply with these laws you will need a permission from us to operate. This permission usually comes in the form of a permit, which usually requires you to monitor your emissions.

Businesses either monitor their emissions all the time, known as continuous monitoring, or at times defined in their permit, known as spot tests or periodic monitoring. In both cases they must meet our quality requirements.

MCERTS is the Environment Agency’s Monitoring Certification Scheme. It provides the framework for businesses to meet our quality requirements. If you comply with MCERTS we can have confidence in the monitoring of emissions to the environment.

MCERTS is used to approve instruments, people and laboratories.

Find an MCERTS accredited laboratory

Find a list of MCERTS certified instruments and products

Download the Method Implementation Documents (MIDs) for stack emission monitoring

Collection: Technical guidance for regulated industry sectors: environmental permitting

Updated: We have withdrawn the technical guidance note for combustion activities. We have added a link to the BREF technical guidance for large combustion plant.

Changes to EPR guidance

The Environment Agency is currently updating EPR guidance to meet Smarter guidance and Government digital service requirements. Some of the generic guidance documents referred to in these technical guides have been withdrawn and replaced with new versions.

These sector technical guides are still current and how the Environment Agency regulates you and your legal requirements have not changed.

Changes to generic guidance documents are as follows:

the generic How to comply with your environmental permit has been withdrawn and replaced with new guides about developing a management system and controlling and monitoring emissions
H1 risk assessment overview guidance and related annexes have been withdrawn and replaced with a new risk assessment overview guide with supporting specialist risk assessment guides

You need to read these generic guides in addition to your sector technical guidance.

Paper, pulp and cardboard manufacturing

See the BREF technical guidance for paper, pulp and cardboard manufacturing.

Combustion activities

See the BREF technical guidance for large combustion plants.

Guidance: MCERTS: performance standards and test procedures for continuous water monitoring equipment – part 3 water flowmeters

Updated: Updated to improve clarity, facilitate new technologies and instantaneous flow measurement.

The Environment Agency set up its Monitoring Certification Scheme (MCERTS) to provide a framework of standards you can use to monitor things that affect the environment.

Guidance: MCERTS: performance standards and test procedures for continuous emission monitoring systems

Updated: Alignment of the standard with requirements of EN 15267-4, including references to Transportable-CEMs (EN 15267-4) and the distinction between T-CEMs and Handheld Emissions Monitoring Systems (HEMS).

The Environment Agency set up its Monitoring Certification Scheme (MCERTS) to provide a framework of standards you can use to monitor things that affect the environment.

Statutory guidance: M20 quality assurance of continuous emission monitoring systems

Updated: Removed the need to conduct a QAL2 every 3 years for incineration processes.

This technical guidance note provides guidance to Environment Agency staff, monitoring contractors, industry and other parties interested in emission monitoring.