Towards Reducing the EU’s Global Deforestation Footprint?

It is widely recognised that forests play a vital role in sustaining life on Earth and human well-being through the provision of essential services and by being a source of livelihood and income for about 25% of the world’s population. And yet, some 420 million hectares of forest have been lost through conversion to other land uses over the past three decades. Deforestation and forest degradation are, in turn, primary contributors to global warming and biodiversity loss – the two most pressing environmental challenges of our time. It is no secret that the European Union (EU) bears significant responsibility for this destruction of forests around the globe, being ranked as the world’s second-largest importer (after China) of commodities linked to deforestation in 2018. However, the EU appears now to be determined to reverse its consumption-driven contribution to global deforestation and forest degradation. Just a few days after the UN climate summit in Glasgow in November 2021, the European Commission released a landmark legislative proposal to regulate the placing on the EU market of forest-risk commodities (FRCs), which is presently being considered for adoption by the Council and the European Parliament (EP) under the ordinary legislative procedure. But does the proposed regulation, as currently drafted, raise any concerns with regards to its environmental ambition and its conformity with World Trade Organisation (WTO) law and human rights protection