The expansionary actions of the fossil-fuel industry, governments and private and public-sector investors, in Canada and around the world, amount to ecocide. While not yet technically a crime, their actions are morally unacceptable.
Dr. Trevor Hancock
11 September 2026
694 words
Published in The Hill Times 24 September 2026
While I strongly support Mark Carney’s efforts to distance us from Trump and the USA, his support for the fossil fuel industry and fossil fuel expansion as part of that strategy cannot be accepted. It will harm Canadians and others around the world, now and in the future, by undermining the natural systems that are the most fundamental determinants of our wellbeing. This constitutes ecocide.
The Stop Ecocide campaign was founded in 2017 with a mission to establish ecocide as an international crime, alongside the four other international crimes judged at the International Criminal Court: Crimes against humanity, war crimes, genocide and crimes of aggression. So far four countries have supported the proposal and eight countries in Europe and South America are considering including it in their domestic law.
In November 2020 the Stop Ecocide Foundation convened an independent expert panel to define ecocide. In its June 2021 report, the Panel defined ecocide as “unlawful or wanton acts committed with knowledge that there is a substantial likelihood of severe and either widespread or long-term damage to the environment being caused by those acts.”
By ‘wanton’ they mean “reckless disregard for damage which would be clearly excessive in relation to the social and economic benefits anticipated”, while ‘severe’, ‘widespread’ and ‘long-term’ speak for themselves.
Which brings us to two reports on climate change released in early September – one from the UN Environment Program (UNEP) and one from the Government of Canada. They make it plain that our collective failure to rein in greenhouse gas emissions is already resulting in severe, widespread and long-term harm to the environment and thus to people – and it’s only going to get worse.
The UNEP report notes “global temperature rise is set to cross 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels, likely within the next few years.” In other words, we have already lost the battle to keep global temperature increase below 1.5°C. In a press release the UNEP adds “The most optimistic scenario will see temperature rise peak at 1.8°C above pre-industrial levels . . . Most other scenarios predict higher peaks.” UNEP Executive Director Inger Anderson stated “There are no good outcomes if we remain above 1.5°C.”
Here in Canada, the government’s own just-released report states with high confidence that “In the near term, Canada will continue warming at close to twice the global rate . . .. On average over this 20-year period, Canada is projected to be 2.7°C (1.8–3.6°C) warmer”. Over the long term, “under current global climate policies . . . Climate change in Canada will intensify through the century . . . In 2081-2100, average warming across Canada relative to 1850–1900 is projected to reach 5.0°C (3.8–6.6°C).”
Among the consequences of higher temperatures the UNEP report lists are “Intensified extreme weather, ecosystem loss, and submersion of Small Island Developing States (SIDS) and low-lying coastal cities.” The report anticipates “Severe damage to human health, food security, water supplies, nature, cities, infrastructure and economies.”
Extreme heat in Europe alone has been estimated to have killed anywhere from 20,000 to 35,000 people this year. On July 31st the World Health Organization reported: “Between 2000–2019 studies show approximately 489,000 heat-related deaths occur each year, with 45 percent of these in Asia and 36 percent in Europe.”
We have already seen the dramatic effects of extreme heat, wildfires, storms, floods and droughts across Canada this year, and it’s only going to get worse. If this doesn’t constitute severe, widespread and long-term harm to the environment and to people, I don’t know what does.
So in the face of clear evidence of current harm and the substantial likelihood of growing harm in the future, the prudent thing to do would be to reduce fossil fuel use as rapidly and as soon as possible. To fail to do so, and indeed to support fossil fuel expansion through continuing subsidies, weakening of regulations and ongoing private and public investment amounts to reckless disregard.
Clearly the expansionary actions of the fossil fuel industry, governments and private and public sector investors, in Canada and around the world, amount to ecocide. While not yet technically a crime, their actions are morally unacceptable.
© Trevor Hancock, 2026
Dr. Trevor Hancock is a retired professor and senior scholar at the
University of Victoria’s School of Public Health and Social Policy
