EU mulls ban on import contributing to global deforestation

BRUSSELS

The European Commission presented on Wednesday a new package to meet the bloc’s climate protection goals, including its latest commitment at the UN Climate Change Summit in Glasgow to prevent global deforestation.

“If we expect more ambitious climate and environmental policies from partners, we should stop exporting pollution and supporting deforestation ourselves,” EU Commissioner for Environment Virginijus Sinkevicius told reporters, calling the new drafts on deforestation and waste shipment “the most ambitious legislative attempts to tackle these issues worldwide ever.”

The EU executive body proposed an act that requires companies to prove that products of soy, beef, palm oil, wood, cocoa, and coffee are “deforestation-free” and are made legally under the rules of the country of origin if they want to import to the EU.

The idea of deforestation-free import was revealed by European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen at the COP26 summit where she stressed that “EU consumers were not willing anymore to buy products that are responsible for the deforestation."

In a separate amendment to the already existing EU rules on waste shipments, the European Commission proposed strict control over waste export to non-EU countries.

The new regulation would ban waste shipment to non-OECD countries if the receivers are not able to manage them sustainably, and it would also demand regular audit in OECD countries to check if the bloc’s waste is managed in a way that does not harm the environment.

Also, the EU would step up stronger against illegal waste trafficking that creates around €9.5 billion ($10.7 million) turnover each year.

As the third part of the new climate protection package, the European Commission announced a strategy on renewing and restoring the soil in the EU by 2050.