1. Introduction. – 2. Methodology and Analytical Framework. – 3. Evolution of Criminal Law Protection of the Environment in Europe: A Brief Overview. – 4. New Normative Trends in European Environmental Criminal Law. – 4.1. European Union: Directive (EU) 2024/1203 On the Protection of the Environment Through Criminal Law as a Shift from “Minimum Criminalisation” to an Enforcement-Oriented Model. – 4.2. Council of Europe: Convention on the Protection of the Environment through Criminal Law as a Standards-Based Framework with “Ecological Seriousness” and Procedural Modernisation. – 4.3. Converging Normative Trajectories: Coordinated Advancement of Environmental Criminal Law in Europe. – 5. Implications for National Legal Orders and Legislative Approximation. – 6. Future Perspectives and Institutional Reflections on Environmental Criminal Law in Europe. – 7. Conclusions.
Background: Environmental crime has increasingly emerged as a serious threat to ecosystems, public health and sustainable development, often characterised by significant economic incentives, complex organisational structures and cross-border dimensions. Traditionally, environmental protection in Europe relied primarily on administrative and regulatory mechanisms, with criminal law playing a subsidiary and largely symbolic role. In recent years, however, the limitations of this approach have become evident, prompting a reassessment of criminal law’s role in addressing serious environmental harm. This shift has materialised in significant normative developments at the European level, most notably within the European Union and the Council of Europe.
Method: The article employs a doctrinal and analytical legal methodology, focusing on the interpretation of European legal instruments, policy documents and relevant academic literature. It examines recent developments in EU secondary legislation and Council of Europe treaty law from a multi-level European perspective, without concentrating on specific national legal systems. The analysis adopts a horizontal approach aimed at identifying converging normative trends, structural innovations and enforcement-related implications for national legal orders and legislative approximation.
Results and Conclusions: The analysis demonstrates that European environmental criminal law has entered a new phase characterised by a move from former criminalisation towards more enforcement-oriented and operationally meaningful frameworks. A new Directive (EU) 2024/1203 on the protection of the environment through criminal law represents a significant recalibration of the EU’s approach by expanding the scope of criminal offences, strengthening sanctioning regimes for both natural and legal persons, and emphasising effective enforcement. In parallel, the Council of Europe’s Convention on the Protection of the Environment through Criminal Law of 2025 establishes a standards-based framework grounded in human rights and the rule of law, introduces the concept of particularly serious environmental offences, and reinforces cooperation mechanisms. The parallel timing and substantive alignment of these instruments reveal an emerging convergence in European approaches to environmental criminal law, further underlined by the European Union’s decision to sign the Council of Europe Convention. The article concludes that, while national criminal law frameworks addressing environmental harm already exist, recent European developments require States to move beyond formal compliance towards genuinely effective and coherent systems of environmental criminal justice capable of responding to contemporary environmental challenges.