UK ban on illegal deforestation in supply chains strengthens global deforestation case
23 juin 2026
Today, the UK government confirmed that there will be new rules mandating companies to exclude illegal deforestation from their supply chains.
Moreover, the UK's new deforestation rules will aim to align with the EU Deforestation Regulation as much as possible. Same commodities. Similar reporting requirements. Geolocation on the table. A £1 million turnover threshold that captures all but the smallest enterprises. Read the UK government's announcement here.
This matters beyond the UK. It proves the EU's theory of change works. The EU bet that one major market regulating deforestation would pull others with it - lowering costs for companies trading across borders, and ensuring companies don't just switch to unregulated markets. The alignment of the UK is that bet paying off. The market case for deforestation-free supply chains just got stronger.
To companies: now more than ever, your supply chains are in the spotlight. The time to act is now. There is a clear aligned message across Europe that governments will not accept goods tainted by deforestation and community rights violations.
But let's be honest about the cost of delay. Global Witness found that since the Environment Act passed in 2021, UK imports have been linked to deforestation almost twice the size of Paris, because the law sat unimplemented without secondary legislation for years. If we want any hope of reaching our 2030 climate and zero-deforestation targets, we need to implement this regulation now.
As I said in the NGO Forest Coalition's statement this week:
“Words matter. So does who gets to shape them.”
An announcement is not the same as an effective regulation. Secondary legislation isn't due until next year. Neither is the Treasury review into deforestation financing, mandated by law back in 2023.
So here's what needs to happen next. Indigenous peoples, civil society, and forest communities in producer countries need to be in the room for the consultations on the secondary legislation, not consulted as an afterthought.
And the implementation of the law needs funding support. Initiatives like the Forest Governance, Markets and Climate programme, Partnerships for Forests, and the Forest, Agriculture and Commodity Trade (FACT) dialogue platforms only work if the UK resources them properly. Alongside binding rules, not instead of them.
The theory of change is sound. Now we need the resourcing and the political will from the UK to match it.
Read more here:
Catégories: News, Forest Watch, EU Regulation on deforestation-free products
