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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
National
Severin Carrell Scotland editor

Company directors who cause nature damage in Scotland could face jail

An oil leak from a pipeline at an onshore oil field in Dorset
An oil leak from a pipeline at an onshore oil field in Dorset in 2023. Scotland could become the first nation in the UK to criminalise ecocide. Photograph: Ben Birchall/PA

Company directors who cause severe or reckless damage to nature could face jail terms or hefty fines under a bill that aims to criminalise environmental destruction in Scotland.

The proposed law, which would be the first of its kind in the UK, is designed to put a class of environment offences known as ecocide on a similar legal footing to other grave crimes such as murder.

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