EU Parliament delays, waters down law to slow deforestation

Forests are being cut and degraded at an alarming rate, especially in the tropics, with the expansion of agricultural land causing almost 90% of forest reduction, according to a study by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. 

A first-of-its-kind law called the EU Deforestation Regulation (EUDR), was designed to take steps to counter this. The idea was that EU importers would have to prove that their supply chains for products such as coffee, chocolate, leather, paper, tires and furniture do not contribute to logging anywhere in the world. Otherwise, they would face fines of up to 4% of their turnover. 

The legislation, which is part of the European Green Deal, was negotiated in detail over several years and adopted by the European Parliament with an overwhelming democratic mandate in December 2022. Heralded by proponents as a breakthrough in the global battle against forest loss, it came into force in June 2023 and was due to be implemented at the end of this year.

 

What does this delay mean?

Analysis has revealed that in 2023, the world lost some 37,000 square kilometers (14,000 square miles) of tropical forest, or an area nearly equivalent in size to Switzerland.

"We are facing a global emergency," said Anna Cavazzini, a member of the European Parliament for Germany's Green party. "I simply find it irresponsible to delay this law by another year in this situation," she said ahead of the parliament's decision on Thursday. 

A 12-month delay would mean additional global forest loss of about 2,300 square kilometers, according to EU studies.

It would also open Pandora's box and give room to water down the content of the law, Cavazzi added.

"With this delay, a new legislative proposal is effectively being introduced into the process, where amendments can also be made, and there are many, many actors who would prefer to scrap or weaken the law."

Who is calling for a delay and why?

Agriculture and environment ministers, as well as the public, were involved in drafting the law. But since it was passed, several agriculture ministries — including those of Austria, the Czech Republic, Finland, Italy, Poland, Slovakia, Slovenia and Sweden — have called for implementation to be postponed. 

Among the reasons given is that businesses are not ready for implementation because of an inadequate benchmarking system.

"It seems that especially some of the European member states have not done their homework in preparing their stakeholders, their industry associations, their Chambers of Commerce for this law in time," said Nicole Polsterer, a sustainable consumption and production campaigner at Fern, a Brussels-based international forest protection NGO.

Polsterer was closely involved in shaping the EU deforestation regulation in the past few years and said the requirements "do not go substantially beyond the already-applied EU timber regulation," adding that would not be "a valid argument for postponing the law."

A more understandable argument, Polsterer said, is that the European Commission was supposed to help countries implement the regulation by providing digital tools. These would help companies upload due diligence statements or show whether countries have a high, medium or low deforestation risk. But such tools will be not be fully operational until December.

"And now it is indeed a bit late for some companies to prepare themselves for the new law," Polsterer said before the parliament's decision was made. "But there are other solutions to this problem than to simply delay the rollout altogether." 

Cocoa producers push for new law

Though some industry groups, including the European Timber Trade Federation and the European Livestock and Meat Trades Union, as well as big US wood companies, are claiming they can't meet the EUDR's requirements in time, others are ready to go. 

Ghana and Ivory Coast are the world's leading cocoa producers, and Europe is their largest market.

Ivory Coast has set up electronic ID cards for farmers that help track beans from farms to their export ports and allow them to access e-payments, while also guaranteeing growers a price for their produce in light of the new EU regulation.

Ghana has mapped all the cocoa in the country, established an end-to-end traceability system intended to reduce compliance costs of smallholders and successfully piloted the project.

Against that backdrop, a group of 120 Ghanaian and Ivorian civil society and farmer organizations recently wrote to EU decision-makers, expressing their deep concerns about efforts to delay the law.

Some giants in the cocoa and chocolate sector — including Nestle, Mars Wrigley and Ferrero — also defended the law and opposed postponing.

"This would only serve to increase uncertainty and jeopardize the significant investments our member companies have made in preparing for its application," they wrote in an open letter ahead of the vote.

And Polsterer agrees, saying businesses such as Michelin have already invested millions into the new systems to be able to comply with the law by the end of 2024 and had offered special contracts with premiums to their suppliers.

"So they are ready," she said, adding that a delay in implementation would threaten their competitive edge. "I don't think this bodes well for business security and Europe's relationship with the trade partners," she said.

Edited by: Tamsin Walker

This article was originally published on 13.11.2024 and was updated following the vote on 14.11.2024.