COP29 High Level Plenary Session on "Mobilizing Law Enforcement for Enhanced Climate Action"

Environmental crimes can occur at local, national, or global level and that it impacts people, economies, public health, and the stability of natural ecosystems. Economic crimes are amongst the highest profits generating crimes.

Highlight the CoE’s long-standing dedication to environmental protection through criminal law, dating back to the 1970s.

The CoE has developed the first ever international Convention on the Protection of the Environment through Criminal Law. It is scheduled for adoption in early 2025. Important to bear in mind the global dimension of the phenomenon of environmental crime and the particular value therefore of this treaty being open to like-minded third countries. It is made in Europe but open to the world. 

The Convention will be the first global legally binding instrument to address environmental crime, covering a broad range of criminal acts including unlawful pollution, unlawful management of hazardous waste, unlawful logging and unlawful trade in timber, unlawful mining, unlawful trading in wild fauna or flora and the unlawful deterioration of protected habitats.

The Convention will:

• include "particularly serious offence" provision, which addresses the most egregious acts with especially severe penalties
• encourage national authorities to take robust action on environmental crime by 
  • assigning/ensuring specialised law enforcement units, particularly investigators or prosecutors, to handle these cases, 
  • enabling ex-officio prosecutions without requiring victim complaints, and 
  • promoting principles for international cooperation in criminal matters to enhance prevention, investigation, and prosecution, including asset freezing, seizure, and confiscation.

The law enforcement and prosecution are essential pillars in the fight against environmental crime.

Encourage prosecutors general and law enforcement officials to familiarise themselves with the content of the Convention to ensure its smooth implementation as countries sign or ratify it.

A proactive stance in enforcing environmental criminal law can make the difference in safeguarding the Environment and the Rule of law.