OPEN LETTER
Dear Honourable Ministers for the Scottish Parliament,
After months of discussions and scrutiny, you will shortly be voting on the Ecocide (Scotland) Bill.
This is a crucial opportunity for Scotland to show international leadership and to protect Scotland's ecosystems and the communities who depend on them, now and into the future.
Who we are
We write to you as members of the International Parliamentary Alliance for the Recognition of Ecocide Law. We are a global network of parliamentarians from 23 countries who advocate for the creation of ecocide laws at the international, regional and national levels to prevent the most severe environmental crimes.
Why ecocide law matters
It is our conviction that criminal law can provide the significant deterrent effect needed to prevent serious harm to nature and support our economies to function within safe planetary boundaries.
Ecosystem collapse as a security threat
In January, the UK government published a national security assessment identifying ecosystem collapse as a direct threat to security and prosperity. The assessment, produced by the UK intelligence community, warns that critical ecosystems could begin collapsing within the next five years, with cascading risks including geopolitical instability, conflict, and economic insecurity.
Ecocide law provides the binding legal accountability needed to prevent such collapse, where voluntary commitments and aspirational targets have proven inadequate.
Ecocide as a human rights imperative
When ecosystems collapse, so too do the conditions for human dignity. There is no separating the protection of ecosystems from the health, dignity, and rights of those who depend on them. The gravest forms of environmental destruction are also grave violations of human rights.
Supporting Scottish business
Having an ecocide law in place would protect Scotland's ecosystems and communities while supporting business and industry to work within a framework that reduces financial risk and promotes innovation. Ecocide law does not target specific sectors or industries - it establishes a threshold of harm that should not be crossed.
Currently, Scottish companies that have invested in responsible practices are at a competitive disadvantage because finance flows toward cheaper, more environmentally harmful operations. Ecocide law addresses this by setting a clear legal boundary that protects responsible Scottish businesses from being undercut by those willing to risk mass environmental harm, accelerating sustainable innovation in Scotland.
Scotland's place in global progress
We urge you to take this bill to Stage 2, where it can be progressed and any necessary amendments considered, and to support the bill as it continues through the parliamentary process.
By doing so the Scottish Parliament will keep in step with developments across Europe and the globe. In Europe, the European Environmental Crime Directive is being transposed into the national legislation of European Member States and includes crimes comparable to ecocide, the deadline for the transposition process is May 2026.
The Council of Europe which represents 46 member states has included crimes tantamount to ecocide in its Convention on the Protection of the Environment through Criminal Law – this opened for signatures on 3rd December 2025 and has already been signed by the European Union, Luxembourg, Portugal, Latvia and Moldova.
A number of countries have already included ecocide into their own penal codes, including Belgium, France and Chile, with ecocide legislation currently advancing in Italy, Brazil, Netherlands, Ghana, Argentina, Peru, Mexico, French Polynesia and India.
Furthermore, the African Environment Ministers Network has made consideration of ecocide law a priority for their 2025-2027 timetable. In September 2024 Vanuatu, Fiji and Samoa, now backed by the Democratic Republic of Congo, submitted a formal proposal for ecocide law to be added to the International Criminal Court's Rome Statute.
Scottish Parliament Committee findings
Scotland's Net Zero, Energy and Transport Committee has conducted independent scrutiny of the bill and acknowledged key points in favour of support:
The current framework lacks an "apex" environmental offence that explicitly recognises intentional or reckless severe environmental destruction as a crime of exceptional gravity, with penalties that reflect that seriousness
The bill has important deterrent and "signalling" value, even if prosecutions are rare
There is broad support for ensuring that the most serious environmental harm is treated as grave criminal wrongdoing
The Committee agrees in principle with having stronger criminal penalties for severe environmental damage.
Public support for ecocide law
Public opinion strongly supports criminal accountability for severe environmental harm. A 2024 Global Commons Survey conducted by Ipsos across 18 G20 countries found that 72% of people agree that the most severe forms of environmental destruction should be a criminal offence. This majority support extends across all demographics and regions, with people clearly understanding that the worst environmental harms affect everyone and that personal criminal liability for top decision-makers provides real deterrent value.
An opportunity for Scotland
We urge Scotland to join other trailblazing nations seeking to protect the natural environment through criminal law. At this critical moment, where environmental degradation is harming communities and economies worldwide, ecocide law would protect Scottish interests now and into the future.
We thank you in advance for your consideration.
Yours sincerely,
Marie Toussaint MEP on behalf of the Alliance of Parliamentarians for the Recognition of Ecocide Law
Member of the European Parliament and Founder of the Ecocide Alliance