Sustainability transitions are essential to addressing climate change, environmental degradation and long-term development challenges. At the same time, the expansion of transition-related investments, regulations, infrastructure and markets can increase exposure to criminal exploitation, including corruption, fraud, illicit trade, theft, sabotage and regulatory circumvention.

These risks are already evident in some contexts. For example, renewable-energy equipment may be stolen or sabotaged, waste and recycling systems may be infiltrated by criminal networks, and public contracts for green infrastructure may be manipulated through corruption or fraud. These examples form part of a wider challenge.

Beyond their immediate economic and security consequences, such criminal activities can undermine the very objectives that sustainability transitions seek to achieve. By diverting resources, disrupting essential projects and eroding public trust, they risk delaying urgently needed environmental and economic transformations. Yet, while considerable attention has been devoted to the political, technical and socio-economic challenges of sustainability transitions, the criminal risks associated with these transformations remain comparatively underexplored.

The UNICRI report Crime-Proofing the Future: Safeguarding Sustainability Transitions examines how criminal actors may exploit, obstruct, circumvent or capture sustainability transitions, and how such criminal practices can undermine public trust, public investments, critical infrastructure, supply chains, security, development and the legitimacy of climate and sustainability action. The report identifies emerging criminal and corruption risks and proposes practical responses for policymakers, enforcement authorities, regulators, development actors and the private sector.

A central message of the report is the need to anticipate criminal risks rather than respond only after they have materialized. Integrating crime prevention and corruption safeguards into the planning, financing and implementation of sustainability transitions, while strengthening institutional capacities and cross-sector cooperation, can help protect investments, reinforce public trust and ensure that these transformations deliver their intended benefits.