In November 2023, the EU Parliament, the Commission, and the Council reached a political agreement on the revision of the Environmental Crime Directive. The agreement criminalise "cases comparable to ecocide", i.e. actions that cause widespread, substantial and irreversible or long-lasting damage to large or important ecosystems, habitats or the quality of air, soil or water. Specifically, it adds many more instances of environmental misconduct as crimes, such as illegal logging and habit destruction, and ensures stiff penalities and even jail time.

This is a huge step forward for environmental protection. This agreement will be formally passed in spring 2024, and Member states will then have two years to put it into national law. You can find more details here from the EU Parliament and from international media. .

Destroying the planet is a crime

To the European Commission, European Parliament and Council of the European Union

Petition

We ask the EU to recognise the crime of ecocide in its Environmental Crime Directive. [1]

Environmental crimes have global impact and cross borders so the EU and its Member States must also commit to push for the recognition of ecocide in the scope of the International Criminal Court.

Why is this important?

Let’s make harming our planet or “ecocide” a crime. “Ecocide” is any human activity that massively damages and destroys our environment, like an oil spill, deforestation, or soil pollution.

Before they keep destroying our planet, we need to stop the fossil fuel industry immediately. Our representatives in the European Parliament will soon vote on how to reform our laws on environmental crime. And could include ecocide as part of these reforms.

There’s a lot of momentum in the EU Parliament to make this happen. But we know how powerful fossil fuel companies and their lobbyists are at influencing politics.

This is where we come in. Let’s show our representative that thousands of Europeans want ecocide to be a crime. If they see our support, they’ll be much more likely to stay strong, vote to add ecocide, and protect our planet.

Make harming the planet a crime!

References:

This crime should have a strong definition following the work of the Stop Ecocide International panel, that ecocide is unlawful or wanton acts committed with knowledge that there is a substantial likelihood of severe and either widespread or long-term damage to the environment being caused.

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