Holyrood committee consults on ‘ecocide’ bill

The Ecocide (Scotland) Bill, introduced by Labour MSP Monica Lennon, seeks to introduce the crime of ecocide into Scots law for the first time.  The offence is described as “causing severe environmental harm in such a way that is either reckless or intentional”.

For this Bill, “severe”, means environmental harm that has serious adverse effects, and is either “widespread” or “long-term”. Suggested examples include oil spills; fracking; deep sea mining; through the marketing or use of ozone-depleting substances; industrial over-fishing; arson; and water and soil pollution from chemical spills.

The Bill will allow for both individuals and organisations to be convicted of ecocide. When someone acting as an employee commits ecocide, that person’s employer may also be convicted of the offence although certain defences might be available, for example not having any knowledge of the employee’s actions, or having reasonable precautions in place.

The  Net Zero, Energy & Transport Committee is consulting on the principles of the bill, how it might be applied and how it might interact with existing legislation and regulations.

One of the key questions is whether law might be applied to penalise activities that had previously received consent from local authorities or statutory regulators. Another is whether the police have the capacity to assess whether an environmental crime has been committed.