German parties push for new crime of ecocide
Summary:
Two of Germany's main political parties, the Left Party (Die Linke) and the Greens (Bündnis 90/Die Grünen), have called for Germany to go further than the federal government's May 2026 draft reform of environmental criminal law, which implements the EU’s revised Environmental Crime Directive (ECD), by introducing an explicit and standalone domestic crime of ecocide.
The ECD requires all EU Member States to introduce stronger criminal provisions for serious environmental destruction, including qualified offences for widespread, long-lasting or irreversible damage “comparable to ecocide”.
The parties both submitted motions proposing changes to the draft law that would significantly strengthen its provisions on large-scale environmental harm, known as ecocide, and supported the call from a coalition of organisations, including Stop Ecocide Germany, for the draft law to treat severe environmental harm as an endangerment offence (Eignungsdelikt), rather than a results-based offence (Erfolgsdelikt).
This would mean that the potential to cause serious harm, rather than harm having already occurred, would be enough to incur criminal liability. Such a change would bring the proposed offence more closely into line with the 2021 Independent Expert Panel's definition of ecocide, which criminalises acts committed with knowledge of a substantial likelihood of severe and either widespread or long-term environmental damage.
Both the draft legislation and the criminalisation of ecocide were discussed in a hearing of the Bundestag Parliamentary Committee on Legal Affairs and Consumer Protection, with Stop Ecocide Germany’s Wolf-Christian Hingst giving evidence.
Wolf-Christian Hingst, Lead, Stop Ecocide Germany, said:
"The Environmental Crime Directive establishes an important new baseline for protecting nature across Europe, but Germany now has an opportunity to build on that foundation. A standalone offence of ecocide would recognise the exceptional gravity of the most serious environmental crimes and strengthen the law's ability to prevent catastrophic harm before it occurs. It's encouraging to see serious proposals from major political parties that recognise the need for this next step."
Die Linke’s motion entitled “Protecting our future – preventing ecocide” can be found here, and the Greens’ motion entitled “Resolution on strengthening the Environmental Crime Bill” can be found here.