Scotland considers making "ecocide" a criminal offence

Members of Scottish Parliament (MSPs) want "ecocide" - purposefully committing acts with full awareness of long-term environmental impacts - to become an offence in Scotland, ahead of hopes it will be adopted internationally.

This comes one week after a preliminary report released by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) forming part of its Sixth Assessment Report which has highlighted the urgency of "strong and sustained" emissions reduction in avoiding the worst of climate change ahead of Scotland's hosting of the COP26 summit in Glasgow this November.

Read more: "Strong and sustained" emissions reductions key for climate future

Back in June, a team of international lawyers drafted up a definition for ecocide in the hopes it would be adopted by the International Criminal Court (ICC) to be used to punish the worst environmental breaches.

The panel describes ecocide as “unlawful or wanton acts committed with knowledge that there is a substantial likelihood of severe and widespread or long-term damage to the environment being caused by those acts”.

The team came together exactly 75 years after the terms "genocide" and "crimes against humanity" were first drafted by the UN in the wake of World War 2.

Should Scotland concur with the lawyers' findings and agree to add legal repercussions to these breaches, it would become the first nation on Earth to list "ecocide" as a crime under these guidelines, although a few countries have codified ecocide as a crime.

International recognition under the UN could increase the adoption of similar laws.

Monica Lennon, a Scottish Labour MSP, has called on First Minister Nicola Sturgeon to make the country a leader in the fight against climate change.

She told the Daily Record: “In a matter of weeks Scotland will take centre stage at the UN climate change summit in Glasgow. We will never have another opportunity like this to influence radical change and give our planet the best protection from climate catastrophe.

“Scotland has a rare opportunity to get ahead of the curve and commit to bold, ambitious laws that draw international attention."

Lennon has challenged Sturgeon to "pick a side" in the debate against new oil projects, such as Cambo, located off the Shetland coast.

In a letter to UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson, Sturgeon suggested tougher standards may be required for the project, which has yet to commence drilling but has yet to formally oppose the drilling.

The UK has already made plans to tackle climate change, by vowing to ban the sale of new diesel and petrol cars by 2030 and vans by 2040. Johnson's government has also pledged to make the UK net-zero by 2050, but the recent UN report suggests this may not be enough.

The report agrees with a recent assessment made by the International Energy Agency (IEA) that suggests no new oil and gas projects should be greenlit and effort towards more renewable sources.

Read more: Radical change needed en route to net-zero, IEA warns

The IEA has also called on "forgotten" forms of energy generation, such as hydropower, to help meet decarbonisation efforts.

Furthermore, 14,000 scientists from 153 countries came together recently to declare a "climate emergency" which analyses metrics to suggest humanity is doing little to battle catastrophic climate change.

Also ahead of the COP26 summit was the G7 summit, in which the world's seven largest economies pledged to accelerate renewable development and protecting affected communities from its worst effects.

A coalition of wind industry players also called on the G20 to continue this trend ahead of the Glasgow conference later this year.

Should the ICC agree to ratify ecocide as an offence, it would be the fifth major one the court prosecutes against, alongside war crimes, crimes against humanity, genocide and crimes of aggression.

Many companies claiming to be paving the way for net-zero, such as automotive companies such as VW and Stellantis, or energy companies like Shell, are still facing fines for not doing enough to cut their emissions or polluting.

Many countries do deliver fines over failed environmental regulations, but there are currently no criminal repercussions for doing so.

Should this be ratified, there may be greater consequences for any governments or companies that actively and knowingly pollute or emit with full awareness of the environmental consequences.

However, the punishments for such offences are currently unknown and would only be revealed once enshrined into law.

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