The draft EU regulation of November 2021, which aims to minimise global deforestation associated with products placed on the EU market through ensuring due diligence along supply chains (see EUROPE 12991/14), has unprecedented public support of double that generally given to other EU legislation (32%), according to the results of a poll released on Monday 5 September.
The survey, conducted in July in nine EU countries (Austria, Czech Republic, France, Germany, Italy, Portugal, Spain, Sweden and the Netherlands) by market research firm Globescan on behalf of a coalition of environmental NGOs and consumer groups, shows that an overwhelming majority of Europeans (82%) believe that companies should not sell products that destroy the world’s forests and 78% of them also think that their government should ban products that promote deforestation. When informed that the European Parliament is behind the proposed legislation (with a plenary vote scheduled for 13 September), this level of support reaches 81%.
Almost half of Europeans (46%) from all countries expect that large companies should be the most responsible actor in forest protection,
73% of Europeans surveyed said they would take action against companies that make or sell products that cause deforestation by stopping purchasing products from them (37%) or by reducing the amount of products that they buy from them (36%). (Original version in French by Aminata Niang)