Natural and environmental crimes threaten the environment and undermine sustainable development, international security, and the rule of law. Such crimes can include illicit logging, mining, fishing, wildlife trade or land conversion, all of which can be financial drivers for criminal organizations and terrorism. Environmental crimes are costly, amounting to about USD 280 billion in criminal gains and costing governments USD 30 billion in lost tax revenue each year. Public and private institutions should implement Anti-Money Laundering (AML) and Know Your Customer due-diligence regulatory frameworks to uncover and prevent unintended support of environmental crimes and activities.  
The Financial Action Task Force, an inter-governmental body, sets standards to prevent global money laundering and rates countries in terms of the effectiveness of their anti-money laundering systems. According to the Task Force’s 2022 assessment ratings, only 3% of countries have substantial levels of effectiveness to ensure that financial institutions are implementing preventative AML measures and reporting suspicious activities. No countries were shown to have high levels of effectiveness. Although the rating doesn’t specifically address natural resource infractions, countries that have financial institutions effectively applying AML measures are best placed to track environmental crimes. 

Natural and environmental crimes threaten the environment and undermine sustainable development, international security, and the rule of law. Such crimes can include illicit logging, mining, fishing, wildlife trade or land conversion, all of which can be financial drivers for criminal organizations and terrorism. Environmental crimes are costly, amounting to about USD 280 billion in criminal gains and costing governments USD 30 billion in lost tax revenue each year. Public and private institutions should implement Anti-Money Laundering (AML) and Know Your Customer due-diligence regulatory frameworks to uncover and prevent unintended support of environmental crimes and activities.  
The Financial Action Task Force, an inter-governmental body, sets standards to prevent global money laundering and rates countries in terms of the effectiveness of their anti-money laundering systems. According to the Task Force’s 2022 assessment ratings, only 3% of countries have substantial levels of effectiveness to ensure that financial institutions are implementing preventative AML measures and reporting suspicious activities. No countries were shown to have high levels of effectiveness. Although the rating doesn’t specifically address natural resource infractions, countries that have financial institutions effectively applying AML measures are best placed to track environmental crimes.