Today, P4P Vice-Chair, Baroness Boycott introduced the 'Ecocide Bill' as a Private Members Bill in the Lords to introduce a new offence into the criminal law framework which targets those causing severe environmental damage.
Commenting on the bill, Baroness Rosie Boycott said:
“What I’m proposing with this new Ecocide Bill is to introduce a new offence into the criminal law framework which targets those causing severe environmental damage.
“Currently, those leading organisations can make decisions that lead to environmental harms that detrimentally impact millions of us. Under this proposed legislation, those individuals would be held criminally accountable and in turn be deterred from making such decisions in the first place.
“If, as a country, we are serious about playing a meaningful role in guiding the global response to the climate and ecological crisis, we need not only robust domestic ecocide legislation but also to throw our weight behind international efforts to recognise ecocide as a fifth crime against peace, alongside genocide, at the International Criminal Court.”
Following today’s first reading, the bill will begin the process to becoming law, with the second reading likely in 2024.
The Bill's Second Reading is likely to take place in 2024.