Environment Protection Authority Victoria (EPA) is Victoria’s independent environmental regulator. We operate under the Environment Protection Act 2017(opens in a new window).
Our role is to prevent harm from air, water, land and noise pollution. We’re here to help everyone understand how they can meet the shared responsibility of protecting our environment.
Established in 1971, we’re one of the oldest environmental regulators in the world. Since then, we’ve faced a lot of challenges responding to climate change and other emerging risks – all while tackling legacy contamination from historical practices.
We're accountable to the Minister for Environment, the Hon. Steve Dimopoulos(opens in a new window). Our Chief Environmental Scientist and Chief Executive Officer give advice to senior decision-makers, including:
- our Governing Board
- our leadership team
- Victoria's Chief Health Officer
- the federal Minister for Climate Change and Energy.
Our team lives and works across Victoria. This helps us take a consistent approach to decision-making while meeting local needs.
To learn more about our strategic priorities, visit our Annual Delivery Plan.
Purpose
Protecting the health of our communities and environment.
Values
Every member of our team, in all aspects of our work, lives the organisational values of:
Integrity
We do the right things and encourage others to do the same.
Courage
We’re empowered to step up to our purpose.
Connection
We’re unified, inclusive, transparent and open.
Excellence
Doing the very best we can is our priority.
Tenacity
We’re focused, determined and accountable.
We also model the Victorian public sector values(opens in a new window) of responsiveness, impartiality, accountability, respect, leadership and human rights.
Our approach and functions
Our functions and powers are set out in Section 358(opens in a new window) of the Environment Protection Act.
Our regulatory approach uses a mix of encouragement and deterrence. This approach aims to motivate action and improve outcomes for the community and the environment.
This risk-based approach is based on science, data and other intelligence. We prioritise our efforts to where we can make the biggest impact. To learn more, visit What we do.
To learn how the legislation and regulations establish a framework for protecting human health and the environment from pollution, visit Our environment protection framework.
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