Scottish Parliament Votes to Advance Ecocide Bill

The Scottish Parliament has voted to advance the Ecocide (Scotland) Bill, placing Scotland on track to become the first UK nation to criminalise severe environmental destruction.

MSPs voted 90 to 26 (with 4 abstentions) to progress the Bill, marking a victory for Monica Lennon MSP, who introduced the legislation. The Net Zero, Energy and Transport Committee, which scrutinised the Bill, recognised that ecocide must be treated as "grave criminal wrongdoing" and agreed in principle with having stronger criminal penalties for severe environmental damage, though it raised concerns about the timeline for addressing technical issues before the May 2026 election.

Cabinet Secretary Gillian Martin announced the day before the vote that the Scottish Government would support the Bill's general principles and "work constructively and rapidly" to prepare amendments addressing technical concerns including ECHR compatibility and defenses for licensed activities.

The Bill now proceeds to Stage 2 for detailed scrutiny and amendments by the Net Zero, Energy and Transport Committee, before a final Stage 3 vote. If approved, it will receive Royal Assent and become law.

Jojo Mehta, Co-founder and CEO of Stop Ecocide International, said: 

"This vote marks a significant step with implications far beyond Scotland. It reflects a growing recognition that the most serious harms to nature cannot be managed at the margins of regulation, but require clear criminal limits to protect the ecosystems on which our communities and economies depend. Ecocide law is advancing at the International Criminal Court, across Europe and Africa, and in countries from Peru to India. By voting to advance this Bill, Scotland accelerates an essential shift toward treating mass environmental harm as a matter of legal responsibility, not discretion."

Monica Lennon MSP, introducing the Ecocide (Scotland) Bill, said:

“This is a historic win for Scotland’s environment. By advancing the Ecocide Bill, we are making it clear that eco-criminals will not be tolerated here. MSPs have got the message that we must protect our communities and Scotland’s future. It’s a powerful deterrent that puts polluters on notice to clean up their act. I look forward to working with the Scottish Government and cross-party MSPs to finalise the Bill.”

Scotland’s move comes amid accelerating global momentum for ecocide law. At the international level, Vanuatu, Fiji and Samoa, now joined by the Democratic Republic of the Congo, submitted a formal proposal in September 2024 to amend the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court to recognise ecocide as a standalone international crime. More recently, the Office of the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court has adopted a new policy placing environmental destruction and climate-related harm at the centre of its prosecutorial priorities. The African Ministerial Conference on the Environment has also made ecocide law a priority for 2025–2027.

Regionally, the European Union’s Environmental Crime Directive, which includes offences ‘comparable to ecocide’, must be transposed into national law across Member States by May 2026. The Council of Europe’s Convention on the Protection of the Environment through Criminal Law, which includes ecocide-level offences, opened for signature in December 2025 and has already been signed by the European Union, Luxembourg, Portugal, Latvia and Moldova. Nationally, Belgium and France have established domestic ecocide laws, with legislation advancing in Italy, Brazil, the Netherlands, Ghana, Argentina, Peru, Mexico, French Polynesia and India.

You can find a full breakdown of the vote on the Scottish Parliament’s website here.