For the first time since the 1980s, German environmental criminal law is set to be reformed, this time within the EU framework and with a major impact on international law. This is a historic opportunity for nature conservation and climate protection that we should not miss!

 Wednesday, 10 September 2025, 6:30 p.m. - 8:00 p.m. CEST

With interpretation in German and English

Specifically, the EU Directive on the protection of the environment through criminal law must be transposed into national criminal law. Criminal law is closely linked to social values and ideas of right and wrong. If we make ‘ecocide’, i.e. the massive destruction of our natural common property, a criminal offence at national and global level, a major step towards protecting nature and the environment would be taken.

In this webinar, more than two years after our first Europe Calling on ecocide, we want to take a close look at the milestones that have been reached in the last two years and those that still lie ahead. We will look at Ukraine, international organisations and Germany's example of national implementation.

Our guests are:

Yuliia Ovchynnykova, Ukrainian MP, reports on ‘ecocide’ in her country. She was involved in the Council of Europe's decision to make the most serious destruction of nature a special offence in future.

Sue Miller, Chief Networks and Alliances Officer at Stop Ecocide International, is accompanying the rapid development of the international debate on supplementing international criminal law at the highest diplomatic levels.

Natalia Rudenko, member of the German Society for the United Nations, Stop Ecocide & Fridays for Future, was heavily involved in the DGVN's membership decision to support the introduction of ecocide into international criminal law.

Dr Stephan Sina, Senior Fellow at the Ecologic Institute, is the author of the legal opinion on the implementation of the ‘ecocide’ provision of the EU Environmental Crime Directive into German law.

Dr Johannes Fechner, legal advisor and parliamentary secretary of the SPD parliamentary group in the Bundestag, is also a member of the Bundestag's Legal Affairs Committee, which is responsible for implementing the EU directive.