Action and deterrence, in one fell swoop. On the same day, February 27, 2024, the European Parliament passed two distinct historical measures for nature restoration and combating environmental crime.

The first piece of legislation is the labored Nature Restoration Law. The regulation, once given the green light also by the Council, will bind the goal of restoring at least 20 percent of the EU's land and marine areas by 2030 and all ecosystems by 2050.

In contrast, the second agreement, which has gone more under the radar because it is final and less contested, concerns the new directive on environmental protection, which introduces new measures and penalties to combat environmental offenses.

The EPP is divided on the Nature Restoration Law

Although more than 80 percent of Europe's habitats are in poor condition, the Nature Restoration Law can hardly be said to have achieved unanimous support: 329 votes in favor, 275 against, and 24 abstentions. The Regulation, which the European right-wingers have repeatedly tried to stall in the past months, was approved thanks to the support of the S&D, Europa Verde, Renew Europe, European United Left, and the Non-attached.

Crucial as well as unexpected support – given the protests from the agricultural sector and President von der Leyen's recent wholly electoral wink at withdrawing the pesticide regulation – came, however, from the European People's Party (EPP), whose front was divided. Despite the February 26 evening announcement of a solid intention to vote against the proposal, 25 of 177 MEPs in fact supported the Nature Restoration Act. In any case, as pointed out by Euronews, none of the Italian Forza Italia MEPs who are members of the EPP voted in favor. On the list of those against were the Ecr Conservatives and Reformists (whose quota includes Fratelli d'Italia) and Identity and Democracy (a group with a Lega quota).

“Today is a great day for Europe as we move from protecting and conserving nature to restoring it. The new law will also help us meet many of our international environmental commitments,” said rapporteur César Luena (S&D, ES), recalling the Kunming-Montreal Global Framework for Biodiversity approved in December 2022.

What does the Nature Restoration Law stipulate

By 2030, member states will have to restore to good status at least 20 percent of the habitats covered by the text, namely forests, grasslands, wetlands, rivers, lakes and corals. This percentage will then increase to 60 percent by 2040 and 90 percent by 2050.
In line with the Parliament's stance, priority should be given to Natura 2000 areas until 2030. EU countries will have to ensure that restored areas do not return to significant deterioration. In addition, they will have to adopt national restoration plans detailing how they intend to achieve the targets.

“Despite months of exploitative attacks, fake news about the alleged negative impacts on the farming world, a negotiation that reduced its ambition, even a last-minute attempt to sabotage the vote by the EPP, the Nature Restoration Law is nearing completion,” commented Andrea Goltara, director of the Italian Center for River Restoration (CIRF). “It is thus also time for the Italian government, which has so far only opposed the new regulation, to get to work to catch up on nature restoration and, more directly concerning rivers, the restoration of connectivity!” Member states will have to restore at least 25,000 km of rivers, turning them into free-flowing rivers, and ensure that there is no net loss of either the total national area of urban green spaces or urban tree cover.

Restoring ecosystems, but with an emergency backstop for food security

To promote biodiversity in agricultural environments, EU member states are required to exhibit progress in at least two of the following three parameters: the common butterfly population index, the percentage of agricultural areas containing landscape elements of high biological diversity, and the stock of organic carbon in mineral agricultural soils.

In addition, they need to take steps to increase the population index of wild birds, as they are a reliable indicator of the overall health of biodiversity. Furthermore, since peatlands are one of the most cost-effective ways to reduce emissions in the agricultural sector, EU countries will need to restore at least 30 percent of drained peatlands by 2030 (at least one-quarter will have to be rewetted), 40 percent by 2040, and 50 percent by 2050 (with at least one-third rewetted). Re-humidification will continue to be voluntary for farmers and private landowners.

Finally, as requested by Parliament, the Nature Restoration Law provides an emergency brake to safeguard food security. Under exceptional circumstances, the mechanism will allow for the suspension of agricultural ecosystem targets if those reduce the area under cultivation to such an extent that food production is compromised and rendered inadequate for EU consumption.

Environmental Crime Directive: the new offenses

The new Environmental Crime Directive, agreed upon with the Council on November 16, 2023, was instead approved by the EU Parliament with 499 votes in favor, 100 against and 23 abstentions. A necessary EU-level harmonization measure, given that environmental offenses constitute the world's fourth largest criminal activity and a major source of income for organized crime, along with drug and arms dealing and human trafficking.

New offenses introduced include illegal timber trade, depletion of water resources, serious violations of EU chemicals legislation, and ship-source pollution. MEPs also wanted to include in the text the so-called “qualified crimes,” i.e., those that lead to the destruction of an ecosystem and are thus comparable to ecocide (e.g., large-scale forest fires or widespread pollution of air, water, and soil).

“This new directive is a victory for the environment. For the first time, the EU recognizes the intrinsic value of nature and ecosystems in criminal law. The outdated 2008 directive needed to be revised as soon as possible. With this new text, the EU is adopting one of the most ambitious pieces of legislation in the world to combat environmental crimes,” said Marie Toussaint, a Green MEP, lawyer, founder of the Our Common Cause association and the International Alliance of Parliamentarians Against Ecocide.

Harsher sentences

Environmental crimes committed by individuals and business representatives will be punishable by imprisonment, depending on the duration, severity or reversibility of the damage. For the so-called qualified crimes, the maximum is 8 years' imprisonment, for those causing the death of a person 10 years, and for all others 5 years. All offenders will be required to compensate for the damage caused and restore the damaged environment, in addition to possible fines. For companies, the amount will depend on the nature of the offense: it can be 3 or 5 percent of annual worldwide turnover or, alternatively, 24 or 40 million euros. Member states will be able to decide whether to prosecute offenses committed outside their territory.

“Any corporate executive responsible for causing pollution will, in fact, be able to be held accountable for their actions, on a par with the company. With the introduction of the due diligence, therefore, there will be no way to hide behind permits or legislative gimmicks,” commented Rapporteur for the European Parliament Antonius Manders (EPP, NL).

This article is also available in Italian / Questo articolo è disponibile anche in italiano

Image: John Cobb, Unsplash