The European Commission’s proposed EU law to restrict products linked to deforestation from entering the EU is a watershed moment in the battle to end Europe’s major role in destroying the world’s forests. After decades of...
17/11/2021
Despite fierce lobbying from some Member States, the European Council today gave a green light for efforts to start protecting Europe’s forests. The Council adopted Conclusions on the EU Forest Strategy which gives the EU Commission the mandate to move ahead on the Strategy’s positive measures, notably a new regulation on Forest Observation, Reporting and Data Collection, which would allow for a better understanding of forest management and climate change impacts in managed forests.
15/11/2021
Recognising the importance of forests in the fight against climate change, the European Commission released its new Forest Strategy as part of the Fit for 55 package. It provides the first holistic European vision for how to...
16/07/2021
Today, the European Commission released its revised 2030 climate and energy package. Despite overwhelming scientific evidence that burning forest biomass accelerates climate change and destroys biodiversity, the Commission ignored...
14/07/2021
The International Energy Agency (IEA) today published a new energy scenario. It models for the first time how the world can achieve carbon neutrality by 2050 and limit global warming to 1.5ºC. A group of environmental and social NGOs campaigning to stop the EU burning forests for energy says this is a step forward; but they also criticise the IEA for relying heavily on bioenergy to meet climate goals and for failing to halt the use of land for energy production. Bioenergy is a false climate solution that adds emissions to the atmosphere, exacerbates biodiversity loss and negatively impacts food security.
17/05/2021
Environmental and human rights organisations have welcomed today’s European Ombudsman finding of maladministration by the Commission. It found that the Commission failed to complete a timely assessment of the social and...
19/03/2021