The European Commission plans to overhaul the EU Deforestation Regulation, which aims to prevent the clearing of forests. The stated goal of this revision is to reduce associated bureaucracy by 75 percent. However, critics warn that these proposals represent a significant weakening of the existing legal framework.
Specific changes include revising the IT system used to document compliance, so that a single due diligence declaration can cover multiple shipments. Furthermore, the updated system plans to educate stakeholders about the limited role of downstream companies, confining their responsibilities primarily to the passive collection and storage of relevant information. Crucially, the regulation would exempt leather products entirely.
Sascha Müller-Kraenner, Managing Director for the German Nature and Climate Protection League (DUH), strongly criticized these reforms, stating that the leather industry’s “aggressive lobbying” has succeeded. He pointed out that cattle hides sourced from areas cleared illegally, such as the Amazon rainforest, could continue to be processed for use in European fashion goods or car seats. According to Müller-Kraenner, this is part of a pattern of setbacks for international forest protection, citing multiple delays in the regulation’s effective start date and increasingly relaxed requirements for European producers and retailers.
Despite the setbacks, Müller-Kraenner stressed that the EU Deforestation Regulation remains a central pillar of the “Green Deal”. He noted that the law has already had a positive effect on businesses and producing countries before its official application, fostering more transparent supply chains and encouraging investments in deforestation-free practices and the fight against land grabbing and forced labor. The DUH therefore demands that the EU Commission enforce the Regulation decisively, without further weakening or delays.
Providing global context, the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) estimates that between 1990 and 2020, approximately 420 million hectares-an area larger than the European Union-was lost to deforestation. The EU’s consumption is responsible for an estimated 10 percent of this global deforestation, the majority of which-over two-thirds-comes from soy (especially used for animal feed) and palm oil. Additionally, deforestation is estimated to be responsible for 10 to 15 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions.