Toxic accountability: When environmental crimes go unpunished
As India weakens environmental safeguards in the name of “ease of doing business,” Europe criminalises ecological destruction. The contrast exposes a grim truth: India treats environmental crimes as paperwork, Europe treats them as moral atrocities
We are all back to our business as usual. But what is this “business” I am talking about? It is the business of harming our environment — the virtually unabated perpetration of environmental crimes by companies and corporations.
The idea for this opinion piece was conceived on May 23, 2025, and was meant for publication on June 5. Does that date ring a bell? For some, yes; for others, perhaps not. Every year, June 5 is observed as World Environment Day by the United Nations. On that day, politicians, bureaucrats, celebrities, and the media speak passionately about protecting the environment.
Had this opinion been published then, it might have gone unnoticed in the sudden surge of synthetically manufactured, one-day environmentalism — especially among those entrusted with upholding environmental protection.
I have deliberately used the word protection over conservation. We have already demonstrated that we are incapable of conserving our environment — the continued fragmentation and exploitation of our natural heritage is proof enough. We must now move towards protection, as enshrined in the Environment (Protection) Act, 1986.
Equally, we must shift from calling acts of environmental harm mere “violations” to naming them for what they truly are — environmental crimes.
This shift in terminology isn’t semantic — it’s existential. While Europe strengthens criminal sanctions — introducing 10-year prison terms and fines up to 5% of corporate turnover — India moves dangerously backward, decriminalising environmental offences in the name of “ease of doing business.”
This divergence carries deadly consequences. Between 2012 and 2023, 86 environmental defenders were killed in India, making it Asia’s second-deadliest country for those protecting nature.
Defining environmental crime
Since 2014, the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) has compiled data on environmental crime. From 2014 to 2023, 3,75,885 cases were registered under various special and local laws. Yet nearly 75% of these fall under the Cigarette and Other Tobacco Products Act — a law that has little to do with environmental protection.
India urgently needs to redefine what constitutes an environmental crime. A unified environmental law — merging the Environment (Protection) Act (1986), Air Act (1981), and Water Act (1974) — would streamline enforcement and strengthen accountability.
European Union shows the way
As India decriminalises in the name of “Minimum Government, Maximum Governance,” Europe moves in the opposite direction. The Council of Europe has adopted the Convention on the Protection of the Environment through Criminal Law, mandating member states to criminalise serious environmental offences and set clear standards for prosecution.
It covers unlawful pollution, ecosystem destruction, illegal waste trafficking, and severe habitat deterioration. The EU’s 2024 Environmental Crime Directive prescribes 10 years’ imprisonment for offences causing death and 8 years for catastrophic ecological destruction comparable to ecocide. Corporate fines can reach 40 million euros or 5% of global turnover.
Crucially, both instruments protect whistleblowers and defenders — the very people India allows to be murdered with impunity.
New Delhi’s dangerous retreat
The Jan Vishwas Act, 2023, removed imprisonment for most environmental violations, replacing criminal sanctions with administrative penalties ranging from Rs 10,000 to Rs 15 lakh.
This sends the wrong message: environmental destruction is a matter of paperwork, not a crime deserving moral and social condemnation.
Criminal law has not failed because it was inappropriate — it failed because India never committed resources to enforce it. Administrative penalties mean nothing to corporations causing billions in damage. Only criminal law can impose what fines cannot — moral condemnation and personal accountability.
So, the big question is when will India recognise that serious environmental crimes by corporations require genuine criminal liability with 5 to 10-year sentences and fines of 3–5% of worldwide turnover?
When will we protect our environmental defenders — the 86 killed between 2012 and 2023?
And when will we move beyond our one-day June 5th environmentalism to realise that genuine protection demands criminalising environmental destruction?
A moral imperative
Europe’s framework recognises that environmental destruction threatens humanity’s future and deserves the same moral condemnation as fraud, corruption, or violence. When companies poison communities or destroy ecosystems irreversibly, administrative fines become empty gestures.
Only criminal sanctions that threaten personal liberty and corporate survival can create real deterrence.
The choice is clear: continue our business as usual while defenders are silenced and ecosystems destroyed, or follow Europe’s lead and acknowledge that environmental crimes demand criminal accountability.
As we shift from failed conservation to urgent protection, we must also shift from calling these acts “violations” to naming them what they are:
Crimes against our natural heritage, crimes against future generations, and crimes that demand justice beyond token penalties.
A Shankar Prakash, PhD, is an independent social and behavioural science researcher
