On 14 November the European Parliament (EP) sought to soften the ban on imports of beef and soya linked to deforestation, and backed a one-year delay to the Deforestation Regulation, thereby pushing back against the EU's environmental protection plans.
Last month the European Commission proposed delaying the entry into force of the EUDR by one year – until December 2025 – after 20 EU countries, some companies and non-EU countries such as Brazil, Indonesia and the United States of America lodged complaints. The Commission did not, however, propose any changes to the law's core principles and substance, a position endorsed by the governments of the European Union.
Parliament's vote to add a new "no-risk" category for countries, which are far easier to monitor, increases the uncertainty surrounding the Deforestation Regulation (EUDR), since lawmakers will now have to open negotiations with EU governments to find a compromise. It also threatens to sow discord between the European Parliament's main parties at a time when they are trying to approve the formation of the new European Commission. The amendments weakening the EUDR were tabled by the centre-right European People's Party and were adopted with the support of far-right lawmakers.
Environmental protection organisations regard the EP vote as a "terrible signal" at a time when world leaders are meeting in Azerbaijan to strengthen climate commitments, and some representatives of environmental organisations have called on the Commission to withdraw its proposal to delay the regulation's entry into force.
Fern member Julia Christian said that changing the risk ratings would give the EU's most forest-rich countries a free hand and was "particularly offensive".
"This is a blatant case of green protectionism that will only stoke anger in producer countries outside the EU," she added.
The EUDR was due to enter into force on 30 December; its aim is to ensure that beef, cocoa, coffee, palm oil, rubber, soya and timber products sold in Europe do not contribute to forest clearance (deforestation) and, in turn, that consumers in the European Union do not drive the destruction of forests in the region stretching from the Amazon to South-East Asia.
The regulation also applies to farmers and forest owners in Europe.
The EUDR was hailed as a turning point in the fight against climate change, but many emerging economies argue that it is protectionist and could shut millions of poor smallholder farmers out of the EU market. Some companies, such as Nestle and Mars, have supported the regulation while urging the EU to do more to help businesses meet its entry-into-force deadline.