The European Union has resisted calls from some industries and countries to delay its flagship policy to fight deforestation, a letter seen by Reuters showed.
The deforestation law will, from Dec 30, require companies selling soy, beef, coffee, palm oil and other products in the 27-nation bloc to prove their supply chains do not contribute to the destruction of forests. Equally, EU companies will be banned from exporting products cultivated on deforested land.
The U.S. government and industry groups including the Confederation of European Paper Industries (CEPI) want the policy delayed, citing complaints including that the EU's systems for managing the ban are not yet finished.
In a letter to CEPI members, dated July 2, European Environment Commissioner Virginijus Sinkevicius acknowledged such concerns but gave no indication that Brussels was considering a delay.
"We are hearing feedback from some stakeholders that preparation for implementation may be challenging. However, we also see encouraging signs in many sectors and countries working to align with EUDR (EU Deforestation Regulation) requirements," said the letter.
Sinkevicius said work on an online system to let companies submit their due diligence statements was underway.
Asked about the industry's concerns, CEPI Director General Jori Ringman told Reuters it was unfeasible for book publishers, for example, to trace the origins of their paper back to potentially thousands of forest plots.
"Neither the guidance nor the EUDR information system are ready," Ringman added, referring to the system that will allow companies to submit their due diligence statements.
The policy has split EU lawmakers and countries, with some supporting a delay, even after they approved the law last year with broad majority support.
Denmark's Environment Minister Magnus Heunicke this week wrote to the European Commission urging it not to postpone the world-first environmental policy - although he urged Brussels to quickly finish the technical systems needed to launch it.
"We are convinced that this regulation will be a genuine game changer in the global fight against deforestation," Heunicke said in the letter, seen by Reuters.
© Thomson Reuters 2024.
7 Comments
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GuruMick
Again, US policy putting a break on any positive change, by dancing to the tune of giant agriculture.
GBR48
quote: We are convinced that this regulation will be a genuine game changer in the global fight against deforestation.
Nope. Faced with not being able to obtain basic stuff, EU companies will have to fake the paperwork or launder their imports through third parties, as Putin does his fossil fuel and China does when importing sanctioned tech.
It all adds cost, so everything will go up, inflation will increase, and interest rates will be jacked up. And the next time the big nations go to the polls, an angrier, poorer and even more disillusioned electorate may finally plump for the populists.
You can, hand on heart, want to do the right thing. But it comes at a cost, and that cost has real world consequences for livelihoods, economics and political stability. Push harder than is viable, and the unintended consequences will bury you. There is no joystick for the EU to wiggle that will stop deforestation. It requires a long term reduction in poverty and the corruption it fuels in the global south. You cannot do that just by wrecking supply chains in Brussels.
bass4funk
Terrible
NB
We should prevent deforestation. However, on the overall backdrop of the problems that our planet faces, the deforestation issue is marginal.
TaiwanIsNotChina
Deforestation contributes to climate change.
NB
Deforestation contributes to climate change.
This is a distraction. Do you want to curb climate change? Then stop burning crazy amounts of petroleum.
dutch
The absolute insanity of the far left.
Germany, in suicidal stupidity, scraps the cleanest energy possible, their nuclear reactors.
What happens next as they freeze their schnitzels off? They chop down trees in the previously pristine Black Forest and import oil from a laughing Russia.
Stupid and Anti-Human.