This publication provides a quantitative overview of the development and status of environmental crime in Germany between 2013 and 2024, based on data from the police crime statistics ("Polizeiliche Kriminalstatistik") and the Federal Statistical Office's criminal prosecution statistics ("Strafverfolgungsstatistik"). The report provides both an overview of general trends and an in-depth account of individual environmental offences. The report was prepared by a team from Ecologic Institute on behalf of the German Federal Environment Agency.

The main findings are as follows:

The number of known cases for all environmental offences dropped by 9% between 2013 and 2024, from 19,652 in 2013 to 17,933 in 2024. The number of known cases of all offences recorded in the PKS decreased by 2% between 2013 and 2024.

This continues the trend noted in the previous edition of the “Environmental Offences” publication. However, the decline between 2010 and 2020 was only 3% with rising case numbers in recent years (compared to 10% for overall crime), while it is now significantly higher again (in contrast to the decline in overall crime). The last three years, 2022-2024, show the lowest number of cases in the reporting period.

The reasons for this decrease in the number of cases could be both an improved awareness of the rules and an improved actual compliance with the rules, as well as reduced capacities for investigations, prosecution, and law enforcement in the responsible authorities.  In addition, it is assumed that the number of unreported cases is high.

In 2024, 43% of all known cases of environmental offences were offences under the Animal Protection Act. Offences of unlawful handling of waste (§ 326 except Section 2 of the Criminal Code) had a share of 33%, and water pollution had a share of 11%. These three types of offences together thus comprised a share of 87% of all known cases of environmental offences in 2024. This roughly corresponds to the situation in 2020.

The clearance rate for environmental offences only changed insignificantly between 2013 and 2024. It was between 56% and 61% every year between 2013 and 2024. It was slightly higher than the clearance rate for overall crime in Germany (between 55% and 59%).

The publication continues the series "Environmental Offences" published by the UBA, the last edition of which was published in 2023 as "Environmental Offences 2021".