Publications & Insight

The EU’s Circular Economy Action Plan and forests: How and why NGOs should engage

This report looks at the European Union (EU) Circular Economy Action Plan, presented in December 2015 by the European Commission (EC) as the Communication “Closing the loop - An EU Action Plan for the Circular Economy”. It...

06/01/2017

Press Releases

European Commission grants Drax a license to destroy forests at public’s expense

The UK’s biggest power station Drax can continue destroying forests and releasing greenhouse gas emissions at the taxpayer’s expense, after the European Commission today approved millions of pounds of additional UK renewable...

19/12/2016

Renewable energy proposal fails to act on bioenergy

On 30 November the EU Commission published its ‘Winter Package’, a 1,000 page document describing its climate and energy plans for after 2020. The package misses a crucial chance to end a bioenergy policy which damages forests and...

19/12/2016

SDG Communications: Commission overlooks forests

On 22 November 2016 the European Commission released a series of Communications on measures to take to implement the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), agreed by the worlds’ nations in 2015 (FW 220). In them however, the...

19/12/2016

Should world’s first FLEGT licences receive warm welcome?

On 15 November 2016, Indonesia became the first country in the world to issue FLEGT licences, opening up the long-awaited ‘green lane’ access to EU markets promised to countries that successfully implement a Voluntary Partnership...

19/12/2016

Fines used to enforce the EU Timber Regulation’s documentation requirement

Two Member State authorities have issued fines upholding the EU Timber Regulation requirement for proper documentation indicating that the timber put on the EU market is legally sourced.In November 2016 the Netherlands, for the...

19/12/2016

News in Brief December 2016

Malta, who will hold the next European presidency (January - June 2017), is a country with exceptional oceans and almost 200 km of coastline, but it is not known for its forests. In fact it has so few forests, they are referred to...

19/12/2016

Forest Watch

EU Forest Watch 221 - December 2016

19/12/2016

Communities, not BECCS, crucial for limiting warming to 1.5°C

A briefing released last week by Fern, Rainforest Foundation Norway and Friends of the Earth Norway dismisses the need for dangerous carbon dioxide removal (CDR) measures, such as Bioenergy Carbon Capture and Storage (BECCS), and...

15/12/2016

NGO Statements

NGO position on the post-2020 LULUCF Regulation

This position paper concludes that the EU should devise strong bioenergy sustainability criteria to ensure the EU only incentivises bioenergy that makes significant greenhouse gas savings and is resource efficient. It is endorsed...

09/12/2016