The environmental association said this worked out to 84 environmental crimes a day, or 3.5 an hour.
It said the biggest category of environmental crime regarded illegal building work, with 12,216 felonies last year, 39.8 per cent of the total and a rise of 28.7 per cent on 2021.
Next came crimes against fauna, of which there were 6,481, while illegal-waste-related crimes dropped 33.8 per cent to 5,606.
The report said revenue generated from environmental crime in Italy was stable at 8.8 billion euros a year.
It added that 67,030 administrative offences were committed against the environment last year, an increase of 13.1 per cent on 2021.
ANSA
