That the Parliament notes that the EU has agreed to create a new offence, which, it understands, is intended to punish the most serious crimes against the environment, with new penalties available, including tougher prison sentences for individuals, exclusion from access to public funds for companies and the ability for EU member states to introduce fines for companies; understands that the aim of the new law is to prevent and punish "cases comparable to ecocide" and draws on text proposed by the European Parliament to tackle ecocide-level crime, as well ecocide legislation progressing in Europe and around the world; further understands that the language used follows the proposed definition of ecocide as an international crime drafted by an independent panel of experts convened by the Stop Ecocide Foundation; recognises that more than 600,000 people signed a petition asking the EU to make ecocide a crime; understands that the EU Environmental Crime Directive will be formally passed in early 2024, and that EU member states will have two years to put it into national legislation; believes that the Scottish Government should review this development in light of its commitment to maintain alignment with the EU on environmental protection law, the calls by several organisations in Scotland recommending the crime of ecocide be introduced into Scottish criminal law, including the Environmental Rights Centre for Scotland and Stop Climate Chaos Scotland, and what it considers is the urgent need to tackle the climate and nature crisis; notes that a public consultation on the proposed Ecocide (Prevention) (Scotland) Bill is open until 9 February 2024, and encourages people and organisations to have their say.