The EU is one of the largest drivers of tropical deforestation. Consumption of agricultural commodities has given the EU a huge and largely unacknowledged footprint in the rainforests. To reduce its forest footprint, the EU must regulate European trade and consumption of forest-risk commodities such as soy, palm oil, beef, leather and cocoa.
The EU has already regulated supply chains in other sectors such as illegal timber, conflict minerals and illegal fishing. This discussion paper looks at what lessons we can learn from the regulation of these supply chains for the development of new EU measures to regulate forest-risk commodities.
Category: Reports