A new International Court for the Environment, with powers to compensate victims of environmental damage and punish the perpetrators, has been proposed by a coalition of lawyers, politicians, environmentalists and non-governmental organisations.

Stephen Hockman QC, who convened a meeting last week to get the project under way, said the new court could be modelled on the International Court of Justice.

The court ‘would serve the victims by adjudicating the terms of recompense and the steps needed to restore ecosystems’.

Hockman said the court would alter the climate of behaviour that led to ‘negligence in Bhopal and Chernobyl’ and to UK shipping disasters like the Torrey Canyon wreck.

A second meeting is planned for 26 May to create an administrative structure for the court, possibly as a registered charity undertaking test cases under English law. The project’s backers also hope to meet the House of Commons’ all-party parliamentary group on climate change later this month.