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In the face of the climate emergency, corporate responsibility is being stepped up by means of compliance. The latter is becoming increasingly closely linked to environmental criminal law. Designed primarily as a mechanism of ex ante liability (i.e., prior to any offense), compliance is primarily a preventive complement to criminal law. In this respect, criminal law “outsources” its preventive role to compliance. Indeed, the internationalization of mechanisms by companies constitutes a means of making environmental criminal law effective. Compliance, in the form of ex post liability— after the offense—is a highly effective tool that is replacing failing criminal law. However, when compliance interferes with criminal law, sometimes the quest for effectiveness is achieved at the expense of criminal law’s fundamental principles.