The link between climate change and serious and organised crime is complex. On one hand, criminals infiltrate legal businesses and organisations aimed at protecting the environment. On the other hand, criminal activities such as wildlife trafficking and illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing, but also illicit drug production, counterfeiting of goods, and several types of fraud have direct and indirect environmental impacts
This is Europol’s latest threat assessment on environmental crime. Environmental crime has become a key threat to global security and a profitable criminal activity, as much in the EU as worldwide.
