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Stepping up EU action against deforestation

The scale of deforestation and forest degradation, in particular tropical and rain-forests, has drawn considerable attention and legitimate concerns regarding the future of the planet. The drivers of deforestation and forest degradation include illegal logging and mining, urban sprawl, land speculation, agricultural expansion, inadequate land and forest management rules, wildfires and natural diseases. Tropical oils, such as palm, but also soybeans and their derived products, have come under the spotlight of deforestation allegations.

In November 2021, after several years of preparation and consultations, the European Commission (EC) released the Proposal for a Regulation on deforestation-free products, introducing mandatory due diligence associated with a marketing prohibition to contribute to stopping deforestation through a cleaning up of EU supply chains from products associated with deforestation.

FEDIOL supports the ambitious objectives which are pursued with the legislation and considers critical that the provisions are workable, can be complied with by the main actors in targeted supply chains and are inclusive for those players actively engaged in the transition to sustainable production practices.  

On this topic, FEDIOL published a full opinion editorial on EurActiv on 30 May 2022.

On 29 June 2023, the EU Regulation on deforestation-free products entered into force. FEDIOL published an op-ed to draw attention to the need for guidance and legal clarity for proper law implementation.  

Event on EU deforestation-free regulation : making it work

The event aims to present experiences from different sectors on what is needed to change practices and overcome practical impediments for workable compliance in key commodity supply chains :

 

24 May 2022 online (registrations closed)

 

See the PROGRAMME

FEDIOL, together with COCERAL and FEFAC, support the Regulation’s objective to ensure that products marketed in Europe are deforestation-free and stress the importance of designing a framework which also achieves sustainable transformation on the ground and global deforestation reduction. They consider that the design of the approach and several provisions of the proposed Regulation will have serious negative consequences without any real added value to meeting the objective of deforestation-free supply chains. Together, they developed a position with suggested adjustments to prevent the Regulation from leading to supply shortages and other pitfalls whilst maintaining the high ambition to ensure deforestation-free supply chains.