The case for ecocide law: Why the private sector needs guardrails
Tessa Clarke is the co-founder and CEO of Olio, an app focused on reducing household and food waste with over 8 million users across 63 countries.
There is a Hindu proverb: “Even nectar is poison if taken to excess.”
So too with business. It has lifted millions out of poverty, created innovation, and transformed societies—but without constraints, it has also led to deforestation, pollution, and climate breakdown. When the pursuit of profit is unchecked, the results can be catastrophic for us all.
Historically, strong cultural and religious constraints encouraged moderation, ensuring humanity operated within the boundaries of nature’s ability to regenerate. One of the best-known examples is the Haudenosaunee Confederacy’s “Seventh Generation Principle,” which dictated that decisions should consider their impact on the next seven generations. This long-term thinking acted as a natural brake on extraction and exploitation.
Many religious traditions also enshrined ecological responsibility. In Islam, the concept of “mizan” (balance) calls for harmony between humanity and nature. Christianity, too, emphasises stewardship, the responsibility to care for creation.
But in an era where shareholder value trumps everything, these cultural and religious guardrails have been swept aside.
The world now operates under the logic of quarterly profits, not inter-generational stewardship. When cultural constraints fail, legal ones must step in—hence the growing movement calling for ecocide law, which seeks to criminalise environmental destruction at the highest level.
What is ecocide law?
At its core, ecocide law establishes accountability for environmental destruction by recognising it as a crime, on a par with genocide and war crimes. By enforcing strict legal consequences for significant ecological harm, it strengthens existing environmental laws and sustainability frameworks.
It also fosters a cultural shift, reinforcing the moral imperative to protect the natural world for future generations, and ensuring that decision-makers prioritise long-term ecological preservation over short-term profits.
A level playing field for businesses
Far from being a deterrent to business, ecocide law is critical to creating a level, and thriving, playing field. That’s because most of today’s products and services don’t reflect the true costs of the environmental depletion and degradation they incur. Therefore, those that do factor in these costs are fighting a battle with one hand tied behind their back – because until the sustainable alternative is also the most cost effective alternative, sustainable businesses will sadly remain on the fringes of our economy rather than at its core.
Take Olio as an example. We redistribute surplus food from businesses to local families via our app; but we must compete against cheap waste disposal streams that vastly underprice the true cost of food waste and its impact on the environment. Until these waste streams are priced to reflect their real environmental harm, scaling sustainable solutions will remain an uphill battle.
Ecocide law can therefore help correct these market distortions by ensuring that companies bear responsibility for the environmental damage they cause, paving the way for fair competition and a truly thriving and sustainable economy.
How is ecocide law taking shape?
The good news is that momentum is building for the recognition of ecocide as an international crime. In Autumn 2024, Vanuatu, Fiji, Samoa and the Democratic Republic of the Congo formally introduced the crime of ecocide for consideration by the International Criminal Court.
Meanwhile, the European Union has revised its Environmental Crime Directive, requiring all EU member states to update their laws by May 2026. The directive introduces “qualified offenses” for severe environmental harm, which can encompass conduct “comparable to ecocide”.
Several countries are also making strides at the domestic level. Belgium for example has incorporated the definition of ecocide into its legislation, while Scotland has introduced the Ecocide (Prevention) Bill. Legislative efforts are also advancing in Italy, the Netherlands, Mexico, and Peru, giving hope to the prospect of 2025 being a tipping point for the ecocide movement.
A closing thought
As the Cree proverb warns: “Only when the last tree has died and the last river been poisoned and the last fish been caught will we realise that we cannot eat money.”
Ecocide law presents an urgent opportunity to fend off this grim future, by establishing clear boundaries for business. In doing so, it will raise best practices, create a fair market for sustainable enterprise, and reward those doing the right thing. Without it I fear business will start to lose its licence to exist, as society wakes up to the true price of unrestrained capitalism.
The time for ecocide law is now.