Investigations
Climate Counsel conducts investigations into situations involving severe harm to the natural environment. We focus on cases involving possible violations of Rome Statute crimes that were committed by means of, or that result in, the destruction of the environment, the illegal exploitation of natural resources or the illegal dispossession of land.
We use public source documents, conduct field investigations, and utilise satellite technology. With cutting edge investigative techniques, applied to a criminal law standard, we build the strongest possible case for action. Climate Counsel works with INTERPRT (a spatial research and design studio) and photographers to include visualisations, remote sensing analysis, maps and video evidence.
Advice & Advocacy
Climate Counsel conducts advocacy to promote remedies for victims of environmental crimes, and advises global activists on legal strategies. We coordinate closely with environmental groups, including Fridays for Future, Greenpeace, Global Witness, CCCA, NOT1MORE and the Stop Ecocide Foundation.
We welcome the chance to work with any business that is genuinely interested in assessing or mitigating their actual or potential harm. We can assist with stakeholder engagement, human rights impact assessments, and corporate polices. Climate Counsel does not engage in ‘greenwashing’.
Litigation & Sanctions
Climate Counsel files cases before the ICC and regional human rights courts. Our multilingual team supports national lawyers to bring cases before national courts.
In related actions, we file applications to states requesting targeted individual sanctions against individuals and businesses who destroy the environment whilst engaging in corruption and/or violating human rights, such as under the US Global Magnitsky Act.
We may also submit evidence to banks, pension funds and sovereign wealth funds, urging them to divest from businesses associated with mass environmental destruction.
Law Reform
In addition to working on the definition of, and promoting, a new international crime of ecocide, we provide advice and assistance to states and regional institutions seeking to address environmental and climate crimes at state-level or within a region.
Many States are already suffering the consequences of climate change, particularly small-island States and need advice on the intersection between environmental destruction, greenhouse gas emissions, and international criminal or human rights law. Some states are looking to adopt national laws criminalising ecocide or to support a new international crime. Climate Counsel assists States to draft national laws and to navigate the international landscape from both a diplomatic and legal perspective.
Climate Counsel provided advice to European MEPs on amending the EU Directives pertaining to environmental crimes.
‘The risks associated with climate-related disasters do not represent a scenario of some distant future. They are already a reality for millions of people around the globe—and they are not going away.’
-Rosemary DiCarlo UN Under Secretary General.
