While environmental crime has long been recognized as an area of organized crime and has been the subject of legal research, climate-related offenses and their impact on climate policy and climate protection have received comparatively little attention. This is now set to change. The Hessian Ministry for Agriculture and the Environment, Viticulture, Forestry, Hunting and Homeland Affairs (HMLU) has approved funding for the research project “Organized Climate Crime” (OCC) at Goethe University Frankfurt. The project will run from June 2026 to June 2029 and receive funding of €330,000.

Project leader Prof. Dr. Christoph Burchard and research associate Finn-Lauritz Schmidt will investigate whether and how organized criminal groups deliberately circumvent climate-related regulations, displace legitimate market actors, and undermine climate protection measures. The project will also examine whether organized crime in the fields of climate and environmental protection differs from more conventional forms of criminal organization, for example through its entanglement with legal supply chains.

“Organized climate crime is not only a challenge for the rule of law. It also causes significant harm to the climate, the environment, public health, and the economy,” says project leader Burchard. “Our aim is to make these structures visible and to explore the role criminal law can play in addressing them. This also includes putting an economic value on the damage caused.”

Funded by the HMLU, the project combines an analysis of the factual and legal foundations of the phenomenon with comparative and interdisciplinary approaches. Working together with public authorities, legal scholars from other countries and researchers in the Geosciences and Earth system sciences, the team will identify enforcement deficits, model the emissions caused by illegal activities, and analyze regulatory approaches adopted in other EU member states.

The three-year project was launched with a science-policy dialogue organized by the researchers in cooperation with the HMLU at the end of April. More than 150 representatives from academia, politics, the judiciary, and industry discussed current challenges and areas requiring action. One conclusion emerged clearly: the phenomenon remains insufficiently understood, both scientifically and from a regulatory perspective.

Some of the legislative proposals discussed at the event were incorporated into a Federal Council resolution on June 12, 2026, concerning the implementation of the EU Environmental Crime Directive. Going forward, the project’s findings are expected to contribute to the more effective enforcement of climate-related regulations, support law enforcement authorities and further develop the legal foundations of climate protection.

HMLU press release (in German): https://landwirtschaft.hessen.de/presse/bundesrat-unterstuetzt-hessische-gesetzgebungsvorschlaege-gegen-organisierte-klimakriminalitaet