Business Open Letter

Dear Governments of the World,

As business and financial institutions, we have a unique opportunity to work with you to respond to the climate and ecological crisis.

By acting together now to hold those responsible for unlawful or wanton destructive practices to account, we can create better and fairer ways of doing business that are firmly supported by international legal frameworks.

Mass damage and destruction of nature and vital ecosystems has been taking place for decades as a grievous consequence of rapid economic development. For the most part, no-one has been held responsible for this serious harm, increasingly known as ecocide¹.

By affecting the very life-support systems of the Earth, this cumulative damage has led us to the climate and ecological crisis we now face, and it has profound implications for people, nature and - inevitably - for business.

Ecocide means ‘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 by those acts’

Businesses, like everything else, depend on healthy ecosystems.

For the first time in human history, we face a stark truth: the future of the living world entirely depends on the decisions and actions we take today.

That’s why, as members of the business and finance community, we are standing up and calling for urgent action.

We are all obliged to operate within the parameters of the law. However, current regulatory provisions alone are not proving adequate to prevent severe and either widespread or long-term harm; neither are they supporting the stability that business needs to thrive. In order to create lasting protection for the ecosystems that sustain all life, something stronger is needed to underpin and reinforce existing frameworks.

Towards a climate-safe future and a healthy business environment.

As members of the business and finance community, we believe it is now essential for an international law of ecocide to be introduced to ensure lasting protection for all life on Earth.

Recognising ecocide will provide a legal safety rail to deter and prevent the worst harms, strongly encourage adherence to protective regulation and fill gaps left by the existing, fragmented body of environmental laws. It also presents numerous benefits for businesses and financial institutions, in alignment with a sustainable future.

These include: unlocking innovation; stimulating investment in new, regenerative business models; levelling the playing field for sustainable enterprise; stabilising operational and reputational risk; and providing a steer towards more sustainable business practices working with rather than against nature.

Time for governments to stand up.

We, the undersigned, as members of the business and finance community, therefore call on our governments to support the recognition of ecocide at the International Criminal Court and, where relevant, in national and regional legislation, and to positively engage in the growing global conversation to make this a reality.

¹ Consensus legal definition of ecocide drafted by the Independent Expert Panel, convened by the Stop Ecocide Foundation. stopecocide.earth/legal-definition, June 2021