Time to criminalize environmental damage, says survey

A new survey of 22,000 people, drawn primarily from the G20 group of 19 major economies and the European Union and African Union, reveals deep-seated concern about the planet’s current state. This unease extends to overwhelming public support for ciminalizing large-scale environmental and climate damage.  

The question of criminalization was asked for the first time in the Global Commons Survey, an annual study conducted by Ipsos UK and commissioned by the Global Commons Alliance and Earth4all. 

The widespread backing of criminalizing damage to nature from 72% of respondents was just above the 69% who believe Earth is close to a climate and nature tipping point. Only 13% of respondents were skeptical about the science of climate change.

Nonetheless, there remains a disconnect between these serious concerns and a “lack of ambition” in government policy, said Owen Gaffney, co-lead of Earth4Life, a collective of economic thinkers, scientists and advocates.

Gaffney sees the survey results as a “strong mandate” for the political and economic transformation necessary to protect nature and the climate. The study’s release is timed, he said, with major polls such as the US presidential election on the horizon.

People from emerging economies feel more vulnerable to climate impacts

Of the 22 countries surveyed, respondents from those classified as emerging economies feel more “personally exposed to climate change compared to those in Europe and the US” and carry “the highest levels of concern and urgency regarding climate action,” the report said.

“If you’re living in Mexico, Brazil, India, China, Indonesia or South Africa, you face more personal environmental and climate risks, and you’re more concerned about the state of the planet,” said Gaffney, who is also an analyst at the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research and Stockholm Resilience Centre.

While people living in Brazil are near the sprawling Amazon rainforest that “is changing very quickly,” Gaffney said, those in European countries such as Denmark or Sweden “are much less likely to feel exposed to environmental and climate risks.” 

Based in Sweden, Gaffney said citizens feel more “insulated” from the extreme heat felt further south, including around the equator, where most emerging economies are located. 

Most agree Earth is at a tipping point

A key question in the survey was whether the “Earth is close to environmental ‘tipping points’ where climate or nature, such as rainforests or glaciers, may change suddenly or be more difficult to stabilise in the future.”

Some 60% of Swedish citizens polled strongly agreed with the statement, the third lowest of 22 countries. In contrast, the figure went up to 86% for Kenya, with Indonesia, Mexico and Brazil not far behind.  

Gaffney noted that Saudi Arabia is an extremely hot country on the front line of climate change, yet ranked even lower than Sweden on this question, assumedly because it is a rich country that can afford adaptations like air conditioning, or even summer trips to Europe.

Despite its strong embrace of renewable energy and green policies, Germany had the highest number of respondents who were “unengaged” regarding the state of the environment and the need for political change. This might also relate to the recent rise of the climate-skeptic far right in the country and an accompanying “distrust in government,” said Gaffney.  

The survey also gauged levels of planetary stewardship among citizens — that is, those who are driven by a strong sense of urgency and responsibility toward the environment and advocate for systemic change.

Again, Gaffney said the idea of planetary stewardship was strongest among people in emerging economies like Brazil, Argentina, South Africa and Kenya.    

Why the public wants to make ‘ecocide’ a crime

The most “surprising” result of the 2024 Global Commons Survey was a strong desire to criminalize those who cause severe damage to nature and the climate, Gaffney noted.

Some governments are already taking notice by legislating against the most extreme environmental crimes that are classified as ecocide, akin to a war crime or genocide. The accusation was most recently leveled against the Russian aggressors in the war in Ukraine.

In Belgium, ecocide was recognized as a federal crime earlier this year, while in France, offenders can already be jailed for up to a decade. Similar bills have been proposed in Brazil, Italy, Mexico, the Netherlands, Peru and Scotland, as noted by Jojo Mehta, co-founder and CEO of Stop Ecocide International, who collaborated on the survey.

“We’re seeing significant policy shifts in favor of ecocide legislation at the domestic, regional and international levels,” she said, which include the European Union’s new Environmental Crime Directive that targets damage to nature and includes crimes comparable to ecocide.

This push for legislation has been driven in large part by “widespread civil society demand,” as reflected in the latest Global Commons Survey.

“People clearly understand that the most severe forms of environmental destruction harm all of us,” Mehta said of the shifting opinions on criminalization. 

She noted that the momentum will help achieve the ultimate goal of including ecocide in the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court, and to ensure that “mass environmental destruction is treated as a serious international crime.”

She added that the best deterrent potential for environmental damage is “creating personal criminal liability for top decision-makers.” 

Edited by: Tamsin Walker