The Federal Cabinet passed a draft law on Wednesday aimed at significantly improving criminal protections for the environment by implementing a new European Directive.
Federal Minister of Justice Stefanie Hubig stated that environmental crime represents a massive industry, noting that organized crime generates billions worldwide through illegal disposal and other environmental offenses. She highlighted the destructive nature of practices such as depositing sludge in forests, releasing chemicals into rivers, or dumping used oil in the soil. Hubig emphasized that strengthening the rule of law is necessary to combat this environmental criminality.
Federal Environment Minister Carsten Schneider reinforced this perspective, arguing that environmental crime is far from a minor offense. He stressed that while some criminals profit illegally, society as a whole-including human health, nature, honest businesses, and taxpayers-pays the price. According to Schneider, since the state typically bears the cost of damages, the new laws aim to change this by ensuring much harsher penalties to act as a deterrent.
The draft law proposes increased sentencing possibilities for particularly severe cases of environmental crime. Specifically, in instances where intentionally catastrophic environmental damage occurs, such as an oil spill, the law mandates a minimum custodial sentence of one year. Furthermore, for specific waste and radioactivity crimes committed by organized or commercial groups, the standard penalty range is set between six months and ten years.
In response to the “Dieselgate” scandal, the Directive introduces criminal liability for placing certain environmentally damaging products on the market for the first time. The marketing of a product illegally under administrative law will now be punishable if its increased usage-specifically by a large number of consumers-leads to air changes capable of triggering significant damage.
Currently, German criminal law protects resources including soil, water, air, animals, plants, and human health. The new Directive extends this protection by designating ecosystems as an additional, protected environmental medium within criminal law. This addition aims to account for the importance of the interconnectedness of various organisms and their abiotic surroundings for environmental protection.
Moreover, the relevant sections of the criminal code are set to be expanded to include the impact of specific energy forms, such as noise, vibrations, thermal energy, or non-ionizing radiation. Under certain conditions, the Directive will criminalize the introduction, release, or dumping of “energy” which includes concepts such as heat, noise, and light.
To empower law enforcement agencies, the measures provide enhanced investigative powers in cases of particularly serious environmental crime. These powers include allowing authorities to employ covert investigative techniques, such as telecommunications monitoring, for the first time. The regulations governing corporate fines are also expected to become much stricter.
The ministries concluded by confirming that environmental crime, alongside drug and human trafficking, constitutes one of the largest global criminal sectors and is a primary source of revenue for organized crime.
