Major UK supermarkets have called on the new government to move swiftly to introduce legislation ensuring key food commodities are not linked to illegal deforestation.
Using powers under the Environment Act 2021, the previous Conservative government was in the process of legislating to make it mandatory for large companies to carry out due diligence checks to ensure there is no illegal deforestation in their supply chains for forest-risk commodities such as soy, beef and palm oil. But the legislation was subject to numerous delays and never made it onto the statute book before the general election, while there was no mention of it in Labour’s recent King’s Speech in which the government set out its legislative agenda for the current session of Parliament.
The Retail Soy Group (RSG), whose members include ten of the biggest UK grocery retailers including Tesco and Sainsbury’s along with the British Retail Consortium (BRC), have written an open letter to new Defra secretary of state Steve Reed calling on him to introduce and adopt the forest risk commodities legislation within his first hundred days in office.
The RSG was formed as an offshoot of the BRC in 2013 to address a sector-wide gap in meeting demand for sustainably produced soy.
Last year, the European Union introduced the EU Deforestation Regulation (EUDR), which places a legal responsibility on businesses to exercise deforestation due diligence on their supply chains by December 30th 2024.
The RSG said retailers have been supportive of the EU legislation and said it was critical that the UK Government delivers on its own deforestation legislation to ensure that British farmers and the wider food sector can continue to access the European market after the EUDR enters into force.
The group added that its continued delay and absence “is contributing to further market confusion and is hindering retailer efforts to deliver on our shared commitment to eliminate deforestation and land conversion”. It warned that “further inaction puts the UK at risk of becoming a dumping ground for deforestation-connected commodities”.
