Despite making public commitments to ‘no deforestation’, some of the world’s largest companies have been buying palm oil from a notorious plantation area in Indonesia which has experienced extensive forest destruction. On Wednesday (19 November), EU member states adopted a heavily weakened stance on the EU Deforestation Regulation (EUDR), proposing new delays and a review […]
The European Commission has formally proposed simplifications to the EU Deforestation Regulation (EUDR) and confirmed the law will still apply from January 2026. Although the EUDR now comes with new exemptions and phase-ins for medium and large companies, the Commission’s decision to resist additional postponement is welcome. The announcement yesterday (21 October) comes after the […]
Loopholes in EU regulations appear to be driving unsustainable and fraudulent palm oil trade. EIA’s new briefing The Palm Oil Black Box – EU trade loopholes analyses EU trade patterns for palm oil and reveals a significant increase in the imports of waste and residues used to make biofuels. Biofuels are renewable fuels used as […]
Senior European lawmakers have been urged to ensure human rights and deforestation issues are kept at the heart of a new forest products risk-ranking system for countries. The proposed country risk benchmarking system will operate under the EU Deforestation Regulation (EUDR), which seeks to prohibit trade in timber, beef, leather, chocolate, soy, palm oil and […]
EIA has joined with more than 245 civil society organisations from at least 42 countries to call on the European Parliament and national EU governments to reject the European Commission’s bid to stall a major forests protection law. The Commission is proposing a delay of 12 months to legally applying the EU Deforestation Regulation (EUDR). […]
A new ruling by the EU Court of Justice (CJEU) may partially undo earlier criminal convictions for importing teak from Myanmar in defiance of a previous EU sanctions regime. In April 2021, Hamburg Regional Court’s convicted WOB Timber and Stefan Bührich for imports of Myanmar teak contrary to the previous EU sanctions regime implemented against […]