Environmental crimes may cost world economy $258 billion: study

The groups released a study on Saturday, on the eve of World Environment Day, that said the proceeds from crimes ranging from illegal logging to the trafficking of hazardous waste and illicit gold mining are funding rebel groups and criminal syndicates. The scourge includes a rise in the poaching of elephants and rhinos, along with white-collar crimes, such as exploiting the carbon credit market.

UNEP and Interpol said environmental crimes now cost between $91 billion and $258 billion, compared with a 2014 estimate of $70 billion to $213 billion.

“The last decade has seen environmental crime rise by at least 5-7 percent per year,” growing two to three times faster than global economic output, they said in an e-mailed statement.

The agencies called for stronger actions such as legislation and sanctions, and for more investment, saying international agencies’ spending of $20 million to $30 million a year to combat the crimes is just a small fraction of the criminal proceeds. Their recommendations include disrupting overseas tax havens and boosting economic incentives to stop people “at the bottom of the environmental crime chain” from getting involved.

Source: Bloomberg

Photographer: Romeo Gacad/AFP/Getty Images