Tuesday, May 16, 2023

EU Adopts New Deforestation Rule

In what could be a significant new rule for reducing climate change, the EU agreed to adopt a law banning products that contribute to deforestation. The list of products companies will have to certify do not contribute to more deforestation since 2021 so they may be traded in the 27 member countries is familiar. Palm oil, cattle, wood, coffee, cocoa, rubber and soy together with products derived from these comodoties like chocolate and printed paper are subject to banning if not certified. A forested area the size of ten soccer fields disappears every minute according to the World Resources Institute. Without the new regulations, the EU would be responsible for the loss of forest the size of Luxembourg every year. Between 1990 and 2020 the UN Food and Agriculture Organization about 1.6 million square miles of forest has been lost