Deforestation U-turn takes EU down a risky road
The author is a Reuters Breakingviews columnist. The opinions expressed are his own.
By Afiq Fitri Alias
LONDON, Oct 3 (Reuters Breakingviews) -Europe’s latest efforts to green its supply chains have hit a roadblock. The European Commission on Wednesday proposed a one-year delay to the European Union Deforestation Regulation (EUDR), which was supposed to be implemented in December. While European lawmakers and member states still have to vote on the move, opposition to the EUDR from the likes of Germany and Sweden suggests a postponing will indeed happen – and that may have ramifications.
The EUDR, which blocks foreign exporters from accessing the EU single market if their products benefit from deforestation, is a logical piece of legislation. Forest fires constituted 19% of global carbon emissions in the 60 years to 2019, an Oxford University study showed. New research from the investigative NGO Earthsight revealed how chicken sold by McDonald’s and major European supermarkets like Carrefour and Albert Heijn has been linked to the loss of 23,000 hectares of Brazilian forests since January 2021 – an area almost the size of Frankfurt.
In one sense, applying the brakes makes pragmatic sense. Bigwigs like China and the United States have been united in opposition, while global pushback to the EUDR reached a crescendo last week during the United Nations General Assembly. The EU calculated that its year-long delay was a “balanced solution” and that affected countries and businesses will now have less reason not to comply. While it seems more like Brussels just buckled to avoid upsetting its allies and trading partners, a bifurcating picture for world trade makes that understandable.
Still, the optics of delaying a landmark piece of legislation with less than three months to go to its initial deadline create two problems. On the EUDR specifically, it will embolden hostile lobbyists to defang as well as delay it. A majority of exporting countries are already likely to be classed as “low-risk”, dealing a significant blow to environmental and indigenous rights groups. Green MEPs say they will work to prevent any EUDR watering down, but they’re fighting an uphill battle.
More broadly, the EU is facing battles on multiple fronts to preserve its attempts to do something meaningful about climate change. The greater proportion of right-wing lawmakers in the European Parliament may complicate aspects of the green transition, just as landmark policies like Europe’s carbon border adjustment mechanism are due to come into force. The more that punchy policies like the EUDR get chipped away at, the less the EU may seem like a decarbonisation leader.
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CONTEXT NEWS
The European Commission said on Oct. 2 it would propose delaying by a year the implementation of the European Union Deforestation Regulation (EUDR), a law banning the import of commodities linked to the destruction of trees. The 12-month delay would be a “phasing-in period to ensure proper and effective implementation”.
The proposal would need the approval of the European Parliament and member states, the Commission said. It added that it was also publishing additional guidance documents.
“Ursula von der Leyen might as well have wielded the chainsaw herself. People in Europe don’t want deforestation products but that’s what this delay will give them,” said campaigning group Greenpeace.
Graphic: Countries and commodities impacted by the EUDR https://reut.rs/4e1bXPP
Editing by George Hay and Oliver Taslic
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