Application of Punitive Damages for Ecological Damage

Abstract

In 2022, the Supreme People's Court issued a judicial interpretation on the application of punitive damages for ecological environmental infringement, clarifying that punitive damages as an additional liability, that is, the establishment of punitive damages for ecological environmental infringement must be based on compensatory damages.However, the judicial interpretation identifies the liability for punitive damages as civil liability, which to some extent follows the practice of British and American legal countries. However, China's environmental judicial practice ignores the dual orientation of the legal connotation of ecological damage, including "pure ecological damage" and "human-ecological compound damage".This paper believes that the introduction of punitive damages, help to clarify the applicable order relationship between private interest litigation and ecological restoration, in the order of environmental interest litigation imbalance, the law should clearly prohibit the ecological environment infringer repetitive punishment, will focus on the remedy of the ecological environment damage itself, expand the subject of environmental damages for punitive damages and the scope of application, will violate the principle of compensatory.