EU Environmental Crime Directive: environmental harm comparable to ecocide

Summary

In April 2024, the European Union adopted a new Environmental Crime Directive which included an offense of widespread and substantial damage to ecosystems, comparable to ecocide. This is the first time that such a definition has been included in legislation for the EU.

Background
In December 2021, the European Commission submitted a proposal (COM(2021)0851) to the European Parliament and the Council of Europe for revision of the Environmental Crime Directive of 2008. The Commission proposed a new Directive to replace current EU legislation that would set new and stronger EU environmental criminal offenses.

Following evaluations in 2019 and 2020, the Commission found that the old Directive did not have sufficient effect. The number of environmental crime cases successfully investigated and sentenced remained very low, sanctions were too low to be dissuasive and cross-border cooperation was insufficient. There were enforcement gaps in all Member States and at all levels of the enforcement chain (police, prosecution and criminal courts). The lack of reliable data also hampered the monitoring of the effectiveness of environmental crime proceedings.

The original draft text proposed by the European Parliament stated:

“When an environmental criminal offence causes severe and widespread, or severe and long-term, or severe and irreversible damage to the quality of air, the quality of soil or the quality of water, or to biodiversity, to ecosystem services and functions, or to animals or plants, such offence should be considered a crime of particular gravity, and sanctioned as such in accordance with the legal systems of the Member States, covering ecocide, for which the United Nations are currently working on an official international definition.” (Amendment 16)

“The environment should be protected in a wide sense covering all natural resources – air, water, soil, wild fauna and flora, including habitats – as well as services provided by natural resources, promoting measures at international level to deal with regional or worldwide environmental problems.” (Amendment 1)

Legal Process
In order for legislation to be adopted by the European Union, it needs agreement from the three EU institutions: the European Parliament, the Council of Europe, and the European Commission. The European Parliament and the Council are the two legislative bodies of the EU, which together, amend, approve, or veto the proposals of the Commission (the EU institution that holds the right of initiative). Once both governing bodies the vote through the legislation, EU member states have 24 months to align their national legislation with the Directive.

In November 2023, the EU institutions reached an agreement on the final text of the law, which includes acts that “cause destruction; irreversible, widespread and substantial damage; or long-lasting, widespread and substantial damage to an ecosystem.” While the language doesn’t explicitly say “ecocide”, the rules draw from the original text, which describes these acts as crimes comparable to ecocide. In February 2024, the European Parliament voted through the final text, and the Council of Europe followed suit in March.

The new Environmental Crime Directive was adopted on 11 April 2024 and entered into force on May 20, replacing the 2008 Environmental Crime Directive.

Involved Organizations