European Parliament adopts report on EU legal framework to halt and reverse EU-driven global deforestation

Anna Cavazzini, Green MEP and Vice-President of the European Parliament’s delegation for relations with Brazil, commented on last night’s adoption of a report on an EU legal framework to halt and reverse EU-driven global deforestation:

„An overwhelming majority in the Parliament approved a report calling on the European Commission to present new legislation with binding EU-wide rules for deforestation-free supply chains. 

This decision by the European Parliament is a huge success for the protection of the world’s forests. This law will mean that, if a company wants to bring raw materials into the EU market that are considered forest-risk commodities – like soy or cocoa – or products derived from them, it must undertake due diligence and prove that the goods are not associated with deforestation, environmental destruction nor human rights violations. 

In the report we also call for effective access to justice and remedy for those harmed by European companies’ operations. This will hopefully lead to better protection for indigenous peoples’ rights.

Best of all, this system would not only apply to forests, but also to other ecosystems with high carbon stocks and great biological diversity, such as marine and coastal ecosystems, savannahs or wetlands – like the burning Pantanal wetlands in Brazil. 

This law could mean that in the future European companies will be paying a lot more attention to exactly what is going on with their Brazilian suppliers in regions at risk of deforestation, like the Amazon, Cerrado and Pantanal.”

Background:

  • The report was adopted by the European Parliament in the evening of 22 October by 377 votes in favour, 75 against and 243 abstentions.
  • In the report, the European Parliament also reiterates its position that the EU’s trade and investment policy, including the free trade agreement with Mercosur countries, must contain binding and enforceable chapters on sustainable development.
  • In the coming weeks and months, further important votes will take place in the European Parliament regarding a new EU supply chain due diligence law that will apply to companies in all sectors, not only those trading in forest-risk commodities. Anna Cavazzini is the Rapporteur for the Greens when it comes to this law’s international trade aspects.