Navigating the EU Deforestation Regulation - what does this mean for UK businesses?

03 September 2024

Earlier this year, Soil Association Certification hosted a webinar, introducing the upcoming EU Deforestation Regulation (EUDR), and clarifying what this means for organic businesses in the UK.

With the regulation due to come into effect from December 2024, businesses must understand the effect the regulation may have on their business, as well as how such a regulation is imperative to counter effects of deforestation and mitigate consequences to biodiversity, climate and people.

What is the EU Deforestation Regulation?

The EUDR is a new regulation that aims to reduce deforestation and degradation of forests by placing due diligence requirements on companies that produce or source “forest risk commodities”. The regulation has a wide scope, and includes wood, soya, cocoa, coffee, cattle, palm oil and rubber. The scope includes the whole supply chain of a product, including those which contain or have been fed with relevant commodities. You can find a full list of affected commodities and products in Annex 1 of the regulation.

Why is EUDR needed?

Deforestation and degradation are happening at an alarming rate, with 10 million hectares of forest cut down per year[1], with huge consequences for biodiversity, climate, and people. Globally, forests are home to 70,000 species of vertebrates, and 1.3 million invertebrates, with these numbers likely to be much higher than current species described in science[2]. Indigenous peoples manage approximately 28% of our planet’s land surface, including many of our most intact forests and pristine examples of biodiversity[3], and these areas must be protected.

Existing laws such as EU and UK Timber regulation (EUTR/UKTR) have failed to protect these communities or lands, or prevent deforestation, partly because they only tackle illegal deforestation for timber. Land conversion for agriculture drives 90% of deforestation/degradation globally[4], but current regulation fails to cover agricultural commodities, and have not been strongly or consistently enforced.

EUDR sets a higher bar. Maggie FitzHerbert, Senior Responsible Sourcing Manager at Soil Association Certification, says “The new EUDR law, whilst complex, is intending to disrupt business as usual, because business as usual is destroying the planet.

It is going to be really challenging to comply with EUDR and it puts a huge burden on companies, including those that are already compliant. We understand that it is difficult, but with an industry moving towards increased traceability and accountability in supply chains anyway, it’s necessary to tackle inherent issues such as human rights violations, which currently remain a blind spot, and ongoing environmental exploitation.”

There are various other related laws coming in too, such as anti-greenwashing legislation and the corporate sustainability reporting directive, so developing and implementing strategies to address these changes now is sensible.

What does this mean for UK businesses?

For companies that have direct operations in the EU, they will be obliged to produce verifiable evidence that their products are:

Deforestation and degradation free
Legally produced
Covered by Due Diligence Statement

For businesses trading only in the UK, there are no direct legal obligations, however, if your products will end up in the EU downstream, than you will need to provide EUDR information to allow your customers to comply. UK companies will need to share precise geolocation data and harvest dates to allow EU companies to complete the Due Diligence Statements required for import or trade. Failure to cooperate with EU customer’s data requests will result in your exclusion from the EU market.

We are here to help. You can watch back our previous webinar, or if you want information on Soil Association’s EUDR services such as training and verification, please contact Maggie via responsiblesourcing@soilassociation.org, or contact our experts in responsible sourcing using the contact form on this web page.

For more information of the requirements of EUDR, please refer to the EC’s implementation guidance.

What about regulation in the UK?

The UK’s consumption of agricultural commodities is linked to a sizable and unsustainable deforestation footprint. As The Guardian reports, “A study by the RSPB and WWF found that UK imports of just seven forest-risk commodities – soya, cocoa, palm oil, beef and leather, paper, rubber and timber – accounted for a land footprint of 88% of the size of the UK each year.[5]”

The UK Forest Risk Commodity (UK FRC) law was first laid out as part of the Environment Act in 2021, but as yet has not been published. The law is not as stringent as EUDR, placing the UK behind the EU. For example, if forests are converted to agriculture without contravening the laws in the country of origin, it will not be prohibited under the UK law. This disincentivises producer countries from strengthening their deforestation laws, and does little to eliminate the UK’s overseas footprint.

Earlier this year, the previous government rejected a proposal from the Environmental Audit Committee (EAC) to ban products linked to deforestation, whether their production is legal under local law or not. Philip Dunne, chair of the EAC, said of the rejection, “Clearing forests to produce goods is deeply damaging whenever it takes place; it being permitted under local laws does not change that fact. UK businesses should not be trading in products linked to deforestation, as defined by the UN, if we want to provide genuine international leadership. Failing to prohibit such trade risks giving mixed signals. Equally, businesses cannot afford any more uncertainty. The Government must set out detailed yet practical plans to regulate forest risk commodities.[6]”

Halting deforestation could and should be seen as a strategic climate target in the fight against climate breakdown. As an organic movement, we must call on Government to act and implement legislation, taking lessons from the more rigorous EUDR.

References

Navigating the EU Deforestation Regulation - what does this mean for UK businesses?