EU Environment Ministers recognised the need to increase the EU’s contribution to the fight against global deforestation, but nuances emerged on the modalities, during a policy debate on Thursday 17 March on the proposed November 2021 regulation to minimise the risk of deforestation and forest degradation associated with products that are imported into and traded in the EU (see EUROPE 12912/18, 12834/1).
Following on from their first exchange at their informal meeting in Amiens in January (see EUROPE 12874/2), this time they focused on the mandatory due diligence rules that would be imposed on commodity operators and the definitions in the text.
These are the two issues that will require further technical work in the EU Council’s Environment Working Group, acknowledged French Minister for the Environmental Transition Barbara Pompili, who wanted guidance on how to move forward.
She nevertheless welcomed the exchange. “We are reworking the European program to reduce our environmental footprint and to send a message of responsibility to business and to the outside world”, she said. Recalling that the EU is the world’s second largest contributor to global deforestation, she added “we cannot turn a blind eye to the dual threat that deforestation and forest degradation pose to biodiversity through the destruction of ecosystems, and to the climate through the destruction of carbon sinks”.
While all ministers agreed on the purpose of the future regulation, recognised the urgency of action and generally supported the extension of the scope to other natural products and ecosystems, many delegations felt that the definitions in the text needed to be clarified in order to agree on what is meant by ‘deforestation’, ‘forest degradation’, and ‘sustainable harvesting operations based on best available techniques’.
EU Commissioner for Environment Virginijus Sinkevičius recalled that the proposal was based on the FAO’s international definitions. According to him, forest degradation should not be underestimated and cannot be avoided, without exposing oneself to complaints from the tropical countries, which suffer from this degradation.
However, he acknowledged that there would still be “work to do to agree on common definitions, given the existence of divergences with national definitions”.
With regard to due diligence, many delegations expressed concern that it would be too bureaucratic and costly, especially for small operators.
The Commissioner said that product traceability obligations were the best way to address the shortcomings in the implementation of the EU Wood Regulation and called on Ministers to raise their ambition by supporting the European Commission’s proposal.
It is not clear whether the EU Council can reach a general approach in June. When asked about this, Barbara Pompili said that she had seen the willingness of ministers to make rapid progress, and called on them to show flexibility in order to arrive at clear definitions, but could not give a date.
“We hope that the French Presidency will be able to reach a common position”, said the Commissioner, confident that interinstitutional negotiations can begin under the Czech Presidency, which will pick up the torch. (Original version in French by Aminata Niang)