UNODC, UNEP and CITES met with FATF for the first time to discuss partnerships to combat money laundering from environmental crimes.

The FATF (Financial Action Task Force) calls for a global push to eliminate the illicit profits of environmental crimes.

At a high-level FATF conference involving the public, private, non-profit and academic sectors, FATF President Marcus Pleyer said money laundering linked to environmental crime is an often overlooked part of a much broader solution to help save the climate. “Right now, all too often, criminals and their gangs are getting away with it. They earn billions looting our planet.

Environmental crimes generate between $ 110 billion and $ 281 billion in criminal earnings annually, including through illegal logging, illegal mining, waste dumping and other crimes, according to the report. FATF.

In addition, according to the FATF, transnational criminal gangs involved in environmental crimes and wildlife trafficking often commit other serious crimes such as drug trafficking, arms smuggling and human trafficking. Human being.

Under its German presidency, the FATF made it a priority to help countries “follow the money” linked to environmental crimes, identify and dismantle the organized criminal networks involved.

The conference focused on how countries and the private sector can assess their exposure to financial flows related to environmental crimes, as well as how countries, international organizations and the private sector can work together to address this threat.

Speakers at the conference stressed the need to prioritize data collection, anti-corruption efforts and effective implementation of FATF standards, including on transparency of company ownership, such as key areas of action.

“The FATF standards already require countries to criminalize money laundering for a range of environmental crimes and the FATF has added several examples of environmental crimes to the FATF glossary to clarify for countries the types of offenses that fall under this. category, ”Pleyer said. “The FATF will continue to engage and work with its partners to help countries track money related to environmental crime, including through the FATF mutual evaluation process.

The FATF will report on the results of the conference to its members at the next FATF plenary in February 2022.

The conference marked the first time that heads of international organizations – including UNODC (United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime), UNEP (United Nations Environment Program) and CITES (Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora) met with the FATF will discuss how to develop partnerships to tackle the problem of illicit money that helps fuel environmental crimes.

UNODC said it plans to launch a new training tool for investigators on the complex links in the supply chain of wildlife crime, as part of its ongoing global efforts to provide training. on financial investigations related to environmental crime.

At the conference, the Duke of Cambridge, Prince William, called on the public and private sectors to act on the findings of the FATF reports on environmental crime and illegal wildlife trade, which provide a toolkit for “Fight these threats to our planet”. .

“Countries must make it a priority to track money from environmental crimes, including the illegal wildlife trade,” he said. “Now is the time to act. We must harness the collective expertise of the public, private and non-profit sectors to identify these criminal networks and bring them to justice.”