{"id":47275,"date":"2024-10-15T15:37:19","date_gmt":"2024-10-15T13:37:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/eu-unit\/?p=47275"},"modified":"2024-10-15T15:37:22","modified_gmt":"2024-10-15T13:37:22","slug":"225-global-groups-say-hands-off-the-eu-deforestation-regulation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/eu-unit\/issues\/climate-energy\/47275\/225-global-groups-say-hands-off-the-eu-deforestation-regulation\/","title":{"rendered":"225 global groups say \u201cHands off the EU deforestation regulation!\u201d"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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#Together4Forests press release<\/em><\/p>\n\n

Brussels, 15 October 2024 <\/strong>\u2013 More than 225 civil society organisations from at least 42 countries have called on the European Parliament and national EU governments to reject the European Commission\u2019s proposal to delay by twelve months the application of the EU deforestation-free products regulation (EUDR). <\/p>\n\n

*** Read the full statement below and the full list of signatories online here<\/a> ***<\/strong><\/p>\n\n

Greenpeace EU forest policy director S\u00e9bastien Risso <\/strong>said: \u201cIn light of the climate emergency, we cannot afford for EU consumption to contribute to the destruction of the world’s forests for another year. We are out of time. Delaying decisive action will only exacerbate the consequences for this and future generations.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n

Fern\u2019s Nicole Polsterer, sustainable consumption and production campaigner, <\/strong>said: \u201cEU policy makers must not renege on their commitment to the EUDR and the Green Deal. Last minute U-turns  mean stepping back at a critical moment from the fight to protect the planet and avert the climate crisis – the greatest challenges of our age.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n

ClientEarth lawyer Michael Rice<\/strong> said: “Delaying action against deforestation means letting down millions of European citizens who have been calling for this law and countless businesses and small farmers – including those outside the EU – who have strongly supported it and made significant investments to comply with it on time.”<\/em><\/p>\n\n

Vanessa Richardson, Senior Forests Campaigner at Environmental Investigation Agency (EIA), <\/strong>said: <\/strong>“The world cannot afford any delays in our collective fight against global deforestation and averting runaway climate change. Policy makers must act now and listen to all voices from producer countries and ensure the EUDR is effectively implemented.”<\/em><\/p>\n\n

Giulia Bondi, EU Senior Campaigner at Global Witness<\/strong> <\/em><\/strong>said: <\/em><\/strong>\u201cThe EU is at a pivotal moment \u2014 once a champion of strong environmental regulation, it now risks both reputational and ecological collapse by prioritising short-term interests over climate action. Our analysis shows a 12-month delay to the law could lead to an area of deforestation fourteen times the size of Paris, unleashing carbon emissions equivalent to 188 million long-haul flights. Each month of inaction goes at the expense of our forests and Indigenous Peoples who protect them. EU governments and Parliament must not rollback their commitments to prevent further catastrophe.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n

Anke Schulmeister-Oldenhove, Manager, Forests at the WWF European Policy Office, <\/strong>said: “This is not the moment to give companies even more time to destroy our remaining forests. The delay would penalise those companies that made significant investments to comply with the law on time, and reward the laggards. Is this really the signal EU policy-makers want to send?”<\/em><\/p>\n\n

Next steps<\/strong><\/p>\n\n

EU member states\u2019 ambassadors are expected to give the green light to the Commission\u2019s proposal in a meeting scheduled for Wednesday 16 October.<\/p>\n\n

The European Parliament will vote on the proposal in one of its upcoming plenary sessions, but has not yet set a date. <\/p>\n\n

Notes for editors:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n

Translations of the statement into Bahasa Indonesia, French, German, Italian, Portuguese and Spanish will be available on the #Together4Forests website<\/a> from Wednesday 16 October. <\/p>\n\n

Organisations will continue to sign on to the statement in the coming days and weeks. The #Together4Forests coalition will re-circulate the statement with an updated list of signatories in advance of the vote in the European Parliament. <\/p>\n\n

STATEMENT <\/strong><\/p>\n\n

HANDS OFF THE EU DEFORESTATION REGULATION<\/strong><\/p>\n\n

We, the undersigned organisations, call on the European Parliament and all EU governments to reject the European Commission\u2019s proposal to delay by twelve months the application of the EU deforestation-free products regulation (EUDR). <\/strong><\/p>\n\n

The EUDR is a flagship achievement of the European Green Deal. It is a world-first in the fight against deforestation, forest degradation and associated human rights impacts, which are driven by European production and consumption of products like beef, leather, palm oil, coffee, cocoa, timber, rubber, and soy. <\/p>\n\n

The EUDR was adopted democratically, with a record level of public engagement and support. Nearly 1.2 million people in Europe told the European Commission directly that they don\u2019t want to continue to be complicit with global deforestation and called for immediate action.<\/p>\n\n

The world\u2019s forests urgently need the protection that the EUDR offers. Following years of failures by the private sector to voluntarily address environmental and human rights impacts in their supply chains, the EUDR is a necessary and crucial step. By delaying its application and giving into the demands of vested interests, the European Commission is significantly undermining the EU\u2019s credibility as a global leader in the fight against climate change, biodiversity loss and human rights violations. <\/p>\n\n

President von der Leyen\u2019s hesitation stands in stark contrast to the urgency of the UN Secretary-General, Ant\u00f3nio Guterres, who in June 2024 called on global leaders to secure a livable future for people, stating unequivocally that \u201cIt\u2019s climate crunch time. The need for action is unprecedented\u201d.<\/p>\n\n

A delay will effectively reward those companies who are continuing to profit from environmental destruction and do not want to change their business behaviours, while penalising those who have already spent resources to comply with the EUDR. <\/p>\n\n

It will also weaken the overall integrity of EU policy-making, put the European Green Deal into question, and ultimately send a signal to other major consuming countries that any regulatory measures to reach deforestation-free supply chains can wait.<\/p>\n\n

Forests are key to a liveable future. They must be protected.<\/p>\n\n

Members of the European Parliament and national EU governments: reject the European Commission\u2019s proposal to delay the EUDR!<\/strong><\/p>\n\n

Read the list of signatories here<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n

ENDS<\/strong><\/p>\n\n

Contacts:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n

Greenpeace EU press desk<\/strong>: +32 (0)2 274 1911, pressdesk.eu@greenpeace.org<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Global civil society groups urge the European Parliament and national EU governments to vote down the plan to delay the EU’s deforestation law by one year <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":47276,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ep_exclude_from_search":false,"p4_og_title":"","p4_og_description":"","p4_og_image":"","p4_og_image_id":"","p4_seo_canonical_url":"","p4_campaign_name":"","p4_local_project":"","p4_basket_name":"","p4_department":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[2,3],"tags":[22,26,27,28,38],"p4-page-type":[14],"class_list":["post-47275","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-climate-energy","category-nature-food","tag-climatechange","tag-farming","tag-food","tag-forests","tag-trade","p4-page-type-press"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/eu-unit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47275","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/eu-unit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/eu-unit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/eu-unit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/eu-unit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=47275"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/eu-unit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47275\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":47279,"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/eu-unit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47275\/revisions\/47279"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/eu-unit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/47276"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/eu-unit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=47275"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/eu-unit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=47275"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/eu-unit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=47275"},{"taxonomy":"p4-page-type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/eu-unit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/p4-page-type?post=47275"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}