MEPs toughen EU law on deforestation

MEPs on Tuesday stiffened language in a text aimed at curbing imports of goods linked to deforestation by widening its scope to include rubber and maize.

The decision, voted 453 in favour and 57 against, fixes the European Parliament’s stance ahead of negotiations that will take place with EU member states over “imported deforestation”.

The EU says European consumers account for 16 percent of global deforestation by importing goods from outside the bloc derived from land stripped of trees and vegetation to make way for more lucrative production.

To limit that impact, the European Commission in November proposed banning six products — cattle, cocoa, coffee, oil palm, soya and wood — if they come from land that was deforested after December 2020.

EU environment ministers in June backed the overall thrust of the proposal.

But the MEPs voted to go further, by adding pigmeat, sheep and goats, poultry, maize, rubber, charcoal and printed paper products to the list.

They also want it applied to land deforested from December 2019.

And they back subjecting financial institutions to heightened requirements to ensure their activities don’t contribute to deforestation.

The environmental lobbying organisation WWF hailed the parliament’s move, saying it sends “a strong signal towards EU member states”.

In a statement, it noted that by expanding the proposed law’s application beyond forests to also include bushland, shrubland and other wooded land, large parts of Brazil’s Cerrado — a vast tropical savannah — would also be covered.