The European Union has agreed a new law titled “EU Regulation on deforestation-free supply chains” that would ban the import of products linked to deforestation.
Key points
- The new law will ensure that a set of key goods placed on the EU market will no longer contribute to deforestation and forest degradation in the EU and elsewhere in the world.
- The regulation will apply to soy, beef, palm oil, wood, cocoa, coffee, some derived products, including leather, chocolate and furniture. Rubber, charcoal and some palm oil derivatives were included at the request of EU lawmakers.
- Companies selling their products into the EU will have to prove their goods are not linked to deforestation, or face fines of up to four percent of their annual EU turnover.
- An impact assessment from the European Commission estimated that the new law would protect at least 71,920 hectares of forest annually.
- As per the European Commission, it would also reduce annual global carbon emissions by 31.9 million metric tons per year, the commission said – roughly the same as the carbon emissions of Denmark in 2021.
- The EU said it would work with outside countries to improve their regulation capacity, but some of the nations it trades with – including Brazil and Indonesia – said the rules would be burdensome and costly.
