Three 40 thousand environmental crimes in a year. The numbers of the Ecomafia 2025 report of Legambiente They are impressive: 40,590 criminal offenses in 2024, with a leap forward of 14.4% compared to the previous year. An average of 111 crimes per day4.6 every hour. It is not just about cold statistics, but a systematic aggression to the country’s natural and cultural heart.
Behind each figure, a wound to the territory. Behind each offense, the shadow of criminal interests, mafia clans and a colluded system that lurks on the degradation.
Cement and waste, the ATM of the Ecomafias
The concrete sector is confirmed by the golden mine for ecomafias: 13,621 ascertained crimes, equal to 33.6% of the total. Abusiveness, illegal quarries, piloted contracts. A jungle where illegal interests thrive, with an increase of 4.7% compared to 2023.
But the most explosive front remains the waste cycle: 11,166 crimes, +19.9% in one year. After the +66.1% recorded in 2023, the trend shows no sign of slowing down. Abusive landfills, international traffic, illegal disposal: an entire sector transformed into a colossal criminal deal.
Green contracts, the rotten in the public administration grows
Crime does not stop at traditional environmental crimes. Silent advances in the ganglia of the state. Between May 2024 and April 2025, 88 corruption investigations related to environmental contracts (+17.3%) are there. The reported people rise to 862with a surge of 72.4%.
Piloted authorizations, rigged competitions, concessions managed such as war boats: the corruption empties the ecological transition of meaning, transforming it into a business for a few.
The South still in the sights
Campania, Puglia, Sicily and Calabria: The four regions with historical mafia presence concentrate 42.6% of the crimes. Campania leads the ranking with 6,104 criminal offenses, followed by Puglia (4.146), Sicily and Calabria, where the arrests double. But the contagion expands. There Lombardy – First region of the North – It has 2,324 crimes, +17.7% in a year. Signal that environmental illegality has not had more geographical boundaries for some time.
The cultural heritage is also under attack
2024 also saw a boom in crimes against cultural heritage: 2,956, with an increase of 23.4%. Illegal excavations, trafficking of finds, damage to the landscape. It is a systematic looting of our history, an identity theft. And the animal world is not even saved: 7,222 criminal offenses (+9.7%) between poaching, illegal fishing and trafficking of protected species.
9.3 billion euros of criminal turnover
The turnover of the Ecomafie in 2024 went up to 9.3 billion. Since 1995, the total touches 270 billion. The clans monitored by Legambiente are 389, growing. A real holding of environmental crime. Since 2015 – the year of the entry into force of the Law on Ecoreati – almost 7 thousand serious offenses have been ascertained, with over 12,000 people reported. But the rhythm of illegality imposes a qualitative leap.
“We need a structural reform, starting from the transposition of the European directive on the criminal protection of the environment by 2026”, he underlines Stefano Ciafanipresident of Legambiente.
