More than 200 civil society organisations from over 40 countries have called on EU member states to reject plans to delay the application of new rules to tackle deforestation.
The group that includes Oxfam, Rainforest Alliance and Friends of the Earth said plans put forward by the European Commission to delay the application of the deforestation-free products regulation (EUDR) by twelve months would “reward companies who are continuing to profit from environmental destruction”.
Announcing the proposal earlier this month, the Commission cited “feedback received from international partners about their state of preparations” as the reason for the delay. Large exporters of commodities like Brazil and Malaysia have expressed concern over the trade implications of the new rules and the impact on farmers.
If approved by the European Parliament and European Council, the new law will now come into force on December 30th 2025 for large companies and June 30th 2026 for micro- and small enterprises, a year later than previously planned.
In a public statement, the civil society groups described the EUDR as a “flagship achievement of the European Green Deal” and “a world-first in the fight against deforestation, forest degradation and associated human rights impacts, which are driven by European production and consumption of products like beef, leather, palm oil, coffee, cocoa, timber, rubber, and soy”.
They said the world’s forests urgently need the protection that the EUDR offers “following years of failures by the private sector to voluntarily address environmental and human rights impacts in their supply chains”.
By delaying its application “and giving into the demands of vested interests”, they argued the Commission was “significantly undermining the EU’s credibility as a global leader in the fight against climate change, biodiversity loss and human rights violations”.
A delay would “effectively reward those companies who are continuing to profit from environmental destruction and do not want to change their business behaviours, while penalising those who have already spent resources to comply with the EUDR”.
It would also weaken the overall integrity of EU policy-making, according to the organisations, and send a signal to other major consuming countries that regulatory measures to reach deforestation-free supply chains can wait.
“In light of the climate emergency, we cannot afford for EU consumption to contribute to the destruction of the world’s forests for another year,” said Greenpeace EU forest policy director Sébastien Risso. “We are out of time. Delaying decisive action will only exacerbate the consequences for this and future generations.”
Leave a Reply