EU to delay anti-deforestation law by another year amid fierce industry lobbying

The European Union will delay launching its anti-deforestation law for a second time, Environment Commissioner Jessica Roswall said on Tuesday, postponing a ban on imports of commodities such as palm oil linked to forest destruction for another year.

Brussels had already delayed the law by a year after complaints from industries and trade partners including Brazil, Indonesia and then-U.S. President Joe Biden's administration.

Roswall told reporters that postponing the implementation of the law was necessary to address concerns about the large volumes of information needed to enter into the information-technology system to enforce the law and was not linked to U.S. concerns about the policy.

Pushing ahead with the launch of the policy, which bans imports of commodities such as soy, beef and cocoa linked to forest destruction, without addressing the IT system risked causing disruption to EU businesses and supply chains, she said.

Several EU member states had argued that companies were not ready to comply with the proposed legislation.

"We have concern regarding the IT system, given the amount of information that we put into the system. And that is why we will seek, with the co-legislators, to seek for a postponement of one year. And that will, of course, also give us time to look at the different risks," she said.

"There's a lot of information coming from industry and businesses in a short period of time. That is the overload that we see a risk for, and that is why we need this extra time to see how we can solve that," Roswall added.

Roswall said she would discuss next steps with the European Parliament and EU member states, which both must approve the delay.

The law was first proposed in 2021 as part of the EU's ambitious Green Deal climate law before it was watered down amid farmers' protests and economic concerns by bloc members.

Reaction to the law in industry has been mixed. 

Large companies including Unilever, Nestlé, Michelin and Pirelli have argued publicly against delaying the law, while forestry lobbies have joined forces with farmers to argue the opposite.

Reaction among environmental groups is expected to be a mixture of anger and disappointment. Last December, after a previous delay, Earthsight's Policy Lead Fyfe Strachan said: It remains disappointing that the EU has decided to push back the start of the law by one year. The deforestation impacts of this delay will be equivalent to the carbon emissions of 18 million cars."

Two weeks ago ClientEarth issued a statement declaring that "environmental protection is not a burden." It added: "Failure to implement EU environmental law already costs €180–325 billion annually. Lowering standards would worsen health impacts, pollution, and economic losses."