The Environmental Investigation Agency (EIA) has warned that environmental crimes have become increasingly sophisticated, profitable and destructive over the past 18 years, blaming governments’ failure to demonstrate sufficient political will, provide adequate resources and strengthen international coordination.
In a new report, Crimes that Affect the Environment – Still a Critical Threat to Our Future, released on Tuesday, the London-based organisation said environmental crime must no longer be viewed as a series of isolated regulatory violations but recognised as a major form of transnational organised crime driving climate change, pollution and biodiversity loss.
The warning comes 18 years after the EIA published its landmark 2008 report, Environmental Crime – A Threat to Our Future, which called for a coordinated global response to the growing threat.
According to the agency, many of the shortcomings identified nearly two decades ago—including fragmented legislation, weak deterrence, inadequate cross-border cooperation and insufficient political commitment—remain largely unresolved.
EIA Securing Criminal Justice Programme Lead, Justin Gosling, said the threat had worsened as criminal networks continued to innovate while enforcement and justice systems struggled to keep pace.
“Many of the structural weaknesses identified in 2008 — fragmented legislation, weak deterrence, limited cross-border cooperation and insufficient political will — persist today,” Gosling said.
He warned that the consequences of continued inaction were becoming increasingly difficult, and in some cases impossible, to reverse.
The report identifies climate, pollution, waste, forest, fisheries and wildlife crimes as interconnected activities increasingly driven by organised criminal networks.
According to the EIA, illegal trade in hydrofluorocarbon refrigerant gases alone costs European governments an estimated €77 million annually in lost Value Added Tax, while legitimate industry recorded losses of more than €400 million in 2020.
The agency described waste crime as one of the fastest-growing forms of environmental crime, involving fraudulent recycling operations and the illegal shipment of plastic waste to countries where it is falsely declared recyclable before being processed in unlicensed facilities.
Illegal logging, forest conversion and illicit mining were also identified as major drivers of deforestation and environmental degradation. Criminal mining operations, the report said, are increasingly linked to mercury contamination, corruption and violence against forest-dependent communities.
Illegal fishing was similarly described as a multibillion-dollar criminal enterprise, accounting for an estimated 15 to 30 per cent of global annual catches and generating up to $23.5 billion each year.
Beyond depriving coastal nations of critical revenue, the EIA said illegal fishing fuels other crimes, including labour exploitation and human trafficking, while destructive bycatch threatens endangered marine species.
Wildlife trafficking also remains highly profitable, with trafficking data recording approximately 4,000 species between 2015 and 2021. The report further noted that more than 70 per cent of emerging zoonotic diseases are linked to wildlife.
The agency said corruption, weak prosecution of senior criminal figures and the ability of illicit commodities to enter legitimate supply chains had helped turn environmental crime into a “high-reward, low-risk” enterprise.
Gosling said the international community already possessed many of the legal frameworks required to confront the threat, including the United Nations Convention against Transnational Organised Crime.
“This is not a failure of available tools — the legal frameworks and cooperation mechanisms needed to act already exist,” he said.
“The failure has been one of political will, resourcing and coordination.”
The EIA is calling for the more effective deployment of existing international legal instruments against environmental crime, stronger cross-border enforcement and renewed political commitment to treating the issue as a global security threat.
The organisation warned that continued inaction would allow criminal networks to deepen their exploitation of natural resources while shifting the economic, social and ecological consequences onto governments, communities and future generations.
