Environmental non-profit Mighty Earth has described the European Parliament’s decision to delay the EU Deforestation Regulation (EUDR) as a ‘dark day’ for the bloc’s environmental credentials.
The implementation of EUDR will be postponed by one year, following a European Parliament vote, with 371 votes in favour and 240 against, as well as 30 abstentions.
In addition, a package of amendments has introduced a new ‘no-risk’ category to the regulation, which applies to countries where deforestation risk is deemed either negligible or non-existent.
According to the new timeline, large operators and traders will need to meet the obligations of the EUDR by 30 December 2025, while micro- and small enterprises have until the end of June 2026.
“The inclusion of a new ‘no risk’ category will allow many countries to be considered risk-free, even if deforestation, degradation and illegal practices are still occurring,” commented Julian Oram, policy director at Mighty Earth. “It is also likely to encourage large-scale smuggling of agricultural commodities from high-risk territories to ‘no risk’ countries, en route to the EU.”
While a number of amendments put forward by the centre-right European People’s Party (EPP) were not passed, the amendments that were made “now sets in train a dangerous game of cat and mouse between the Parliament, European Commission and member states, with the future of the world’s forests, and the people and wildlife that depend on them for survival, hanging by a thread,” Oram added.
“Aside from the fact that the worst of the amendments and a one-year delay were adopted, this was not democracy in action today. The votes were very close, but the fate of the world’s forests ended up at the mercy of a technical glitch which saw many MEPs unable to cast their vote, with the chair refusing to re-do the vote. It makes a travesty of the huge ‘Democracy’ slogan on the outside of the European Parliament building.”
‘Absolutely shameful’
Greenpeace, meanwhile, said that the postponement of the EUDR was an indication of efforts to dismantle the EU Green Deal, led by centre-right and far-right parties in the European Parliament.
“More than a million EU citizens demanded a strong law to protect forests, and in 2022 they got it,” commented Greenpeace EU forest policy director Sébastien Risso. “So it is absolutely shameful that now, almost two years later, the European People’s Party has abandoned its previous support for this urgently-needed law in light of the climate emergency, and has teamed up with parties of the populist and extreme right to drastically weaken the EU deforestation regulation.
“Companies and third countries have been preparing for this law since its adoption last year. The EPP’s abrupt abandonment of principle, just weeks before the law kicks in, threatens to undermine the trust in the EU’s ability to provide a stable legal environment for businesses and investors. The European Commission should never have opened the door to this chaos in the first place, and must now withdraw its proposal to prevent further damage. The world’s forests cannot wait.”
London-based Earthsight also pointed the finger of blame at the EPP, saying that while the EPP “claims it just wants to cut red tape, but in reality this move undermines the integrity of the law and will make it dramatically harder to enforce,” according to policy lead Fyfe Strachan.
“The EUDR has suffered a massive blow today,” he added.
Forest destruction
Elsewhere, Birdlife Europe noted that the year-long delay will likely lead to the destruction of around wipe out 2,500 square kilometres of forests, equivalent to the size of the city of Moscow, and accelerate climate change and biodiversity destruction.
“This appalling rollback of anti-deforestation rules is a betrayal of all Europeans who championed the law and the responsible businesses ready to comply with it,” commented Riccardo Gambini, EU bioenergy and forest policy officer at BirdLife Europe.
“Forests will bear the highest cost, but soon enough, we will all face the fallout of this reckless decision. By successfully gutting the law, nature-destructive, climate-crisis fuelling companies can continue their business-as-usual practices, while, those who acted responsibly are left to suffer the consequences of this purely political choice.”
