Summary:
UK ‘Ecocide Bill’ gets first reading in House of Lords.
Bill introduced by crossbench peer Baroness Boycott.
Second reading due in Spring 2024.
The 'Ecocide Bill', introduced today as a Private Members Bill by Baroness Rosie Boycott, aims to close an existing gap in UK criminal law which allows perpetrators of the most severe environmental harms to escape accountability.
Similar ecocide legislation is currently being proposed by countries worldwide including Italy, Spain, Mexico, Brazil, the Netherlands, Belgium, and most recently, Scotland. This month also saw provision to criminalise crimes ‘comparable to ecocide’ agreed by the European Union.
Serious environmental damage that directly results from decisions made by those in the most senior positions of power would lead to criminal prosecution and potentially jailtime under the proposed bill.
A by-product of the bill, which would be the first of its kind in England, would be to deter potentially damaging climate and environmental policy and give a boost for green businesses by redirecting finance and investment away from the most harmful practices.
Commenting on the bill, Baroness Rosie Boycott said:
“What I’m proposing with this new Ecocide Bill is to introduce a new offence into the criminal law framework which targets those causing severe environmental damage.
“Currently, those leading organisations can make decisions that lead to environmental harms that detrimentally impact millions of us. Under this proposed legislation, those individuals would be held criminally accountable and in turn be deterred from making such decisions in the first place.
“If, as a country, we are serious about playing a meaningful role in guiding the global response to the climate and ecological crisis, we need not only robust domestic ecocide legislation but also to throw our weight behind international efforts to recognise ecocide as a fifth crime against peace, alongside genocide, at the International Criminal Court.”
Following today’s first reading, the bill will begin the process to becoming law, with the second reading likely in 2024.