Illegal pollution of soil, water, and air, unauthorised handling of waste, and violations of animal welfare laws continue to be among the most prevalent forms of environmental crime in Germany. Environmental crimes cause considerable ecological damage and can harm human health and undermine confidence in the enforcement of environmental law.

In order to combat environmental crime effectively, it is essential to continuously collect and analyse data on environmental crime. This is also recognised in the EU's new Environmental Crime Directive, which obliges member states to collect a minimum amount of statistical data. Against this background, the Ecologic Institute is preparing the publication “Environmental Offences 2024: Evaluation of Statistics” on behalf of the German Federal Environment Agency.

The project analyses the development of environmental crime in Germany between 2013 and 2024. It is based on data from the Police Crime Statistics (PKS) and the law enforcement statistics of the Federal Statistical Office. The analysis provides both an overview of long-term trends and an in-depth assessment of individual categories of environmental offences.

Among other things, the following are examined:

• the development of the total number of recorded environmental crimes,
• the distribution of cases across different types of environmental crime,
• clearance rates in comparison with overall crime in Germany,
• the proportions of convictions, dismissals, and acquittals.

With this project, Ecologic Institute is continuing its previous work on statistical reporting on environmental crime in Germany.