Brussels – The European Commission announced on Tuesday that it will once again delay the application of the EU deforestation regulation. As a result, European consumers will continue to unwittingly contribute to the destruction of precious habitats across the planet.
The application of the law was already delayed by a year in December 2024.
The law is meant to curb the EU’s global deforestation footprint by regulating a number of commodities (cattle, cocoa, coffee, palm oil, rubber, soy, and wood) that are major drivers of deforestation, forest degradation and human rights violations, within and outside Europe. Products derived from these commodities would be excluded from the EU market, unless they are “deforestation-free” and legal.
Commenting on the announcement, Greenpeace EU legal strategist Andrea Carta said: “The Commission’s decision is outrageous: while the EU beats about the bush, the worlds’ forests continue to burn, driving extinction, climate breakdown and human rights abuses. The Commission has shown the world that it is hostage to industries and their political friends who are hellbent on squeezing every cent out of the destruction of the natural world.”
The decision comes just over a month before the opening of the COP30 global climate conference in Brazil, where the issue of forest protection will be central to discussions, and where the EU expects to play a key role to ensure progress.
The announcement of a new delay comes in the wake of the Commission finalising trade negotiations with Indonesia, the world’s top exporter of palm oil, a crop long associated with widespread deforestation, and shortly after the closure of the Commission’s consultation on the so called “environmental omnibus”, an initiative that threatens to deregulate EU environmental laws under the guise of “simplification”.
Contact: Greenpeace EU press desk: +32 (0)2 274 1911, [email protected]
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Greenpeace is an independent global campaigning network that acts to change attitudes and behaviour, to protect and conserve the environment and to promote peace. We do not accept donations from governments, the EU, businesses or political parties. Greenpeace has over three million supporters, and 26 independent national and regional organisations with offices in more than 55 countries.
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