By Kate Abnett
BRUSSELS (Reuters) – The European Parliament gave its final approval on Tuesday to a one-year delay of Europe’s landmark deforestation law, which from Dec. 2025 will ban the import of beef, soy and other goods linked to the destruction of forests.
The lawmakers’ approval paves the way for European Union countries to also approve the delay, which they are expected to do this week – as a formality, with no changes. After that, the postponement will pass into law.
WHY IT’S IMPORTANT
The delay to the world-first policy to address deforestation is a blow to the EU’s green agenda, which is facing pushback among industries from automakers, to airlines, who say EU measures to fight climate change are too onerous.
But the delay offers relief to the companies and countries that had opposed the policy. Brazil and Indonesia had branded the law protectionist and said it could exclude millions of poor, small-scale farmers from the EU market.
The EU law, which was initially due to take effect from Dec. 30, 2024, will require companies and traders placing soy, beef, coffee, palm oil and other products onto the EU market to provide proof their supply chain does not contribute to deforestation.
EU farmers would also be banned from exporting products cultivated on deforested or degraded woodlands.
CONTEXT
EU lawmakers had tried to also weaken parts of the policy, but those proposals were shelved in negotiations with EU countries. The two sides struck a deal earlier this month to simply delay the law by 12 months.
BY THE NUMBERS
At least 120 million metric tons of CO2 emissions were caused by deforestation associated with EU commodity imports in 2021-2022, according to campaign group Global Witness.
(Reporting by Kate Abnett, editing by Bart Meijer)
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