Meeting of the Parliament 05 February 2026 [Draft]
I am pleased to speak in support of the bill, because, at its heart, the legislation is about justice: justice for our environment, justice for our communities and justice for future generations, who will inherit the consequences of the choices that we make today. I thank the member in charge, Monica Lennon, for bringing the bill forward, and I thank the Net Zero, Energy and Transport Committee for its scrutiny.
Too often, environmental harm is treated as an unfortunate side effect of progress—something to be managed after the damage has already been done. However, for many communities across Scotland, environmental harm is not abstract, and it is certainly not evenly shared. It shows up in polluted air, degraded land and contaminated water, and in the loss of local livelihoods and green spaces that people rely on for their health, wellbeing and sense of place. That is why the Ecocide (Scotland) Bill matters. It asks us to draw a clear moral and legal line that the large-scale destruction of our natural environment is not just regrettable but unacceptable.
Crucially, the bill recognises that environmental destruction is inseparable from social injustice. Communities that experience the worst environmental harms are often those that are already facing economic disadvantage, poor health outcomes and political marginalisation. Whether it is industrial pollution, extractive practices or reckless development, the costs are borne locally while the profits flow elsewhere. We just have to look at the devastating and lasting impact of the collapse of the coal industry in my constituency of Carrick, Cumnock and Doon Valley, which required restoration work costing upwards of £160 million of public money. Not only did we lose the industry, we lost habitats and species. The bill begins to rebalance that equation by placing responsibility where it belongs: on those who make the decisions that cause the severest of harms.
Environmental justice is about more than protecting landscapes; it is also about protecting people. Clean air should not be a privilege and safe water should not depend on our postcode. Access to a healthy environment should be a basic right and not a luxury. By establishing ecocide as a serious apex offence, the bill strengthens the tools that are available to prevent harm before it happens, rather than asking communities to pick up the pieces afterwards.
The bill also sends a powerful message about the kind of economy that we want to build. A just transition cannot be built on environmental sacrificial zones or on the assumption that some communities are expendable. The bill supports a future where economic activity is compatible with ecological limits and where innovation, investment and job creation are aligned with long-term wellbeing rather than short-term gain.
For Scotland, this issue is also about leadership. We have often said that we want to be at the forefront of progressive environmental policy. The bill gives further substance to those ambitions by embedding accountability and prevention at the highest level of decision making. It challenges all of us—Government, business and public bodies alike—to act with care, foresight and responsibility. As we have already heard, that will put us in line with other countries around the world that have introduced ecocide laws.
The climate and nature crisis demand urgent action. They demand courage, clarity and a willingness to rethink the rules that have allowed environmental harm to persist for far too long. Supporting the bill is an opportunity to say that justice in Scotland means social justice and environmental justice together, not one at the expense of the other.
Thankfully, instances of ecocide are, indeed, rare, with estimates that it happens only once in every 10 to 20 years, but the impact on our planet and people means that those instances must be treated as being much graver than a simple regulatory breach.
I urge members across the chamber to engage constructively with the bill, to listen to the communities that have long called for stronger protection and to recognise that safeguarding our environment is safeguarding our shared future. We should support the bill at stage 1 and make it workable via early amendments.