The European Parliament on Thursday approved a one-year delay in the implementation of the bloc’s sweeping rules to combat deforestation but voted to relax some requirements, sparking fresh uncertainty over the landmark law.
The move sparked outrage from environmental groups, who accused lawmakers of adding loopholes to a bill hailed as a major breakthrough in the fight to preserve nature and combat climate change. Julian Oram, policy director of advocacy group Mighty Earth, said:
“It’s a dark day for Europe’s environmental credentials.”
Parliament was called on to sign off on the delay, which was requested by the European Commission after pressure from trading partners such as Brazil and the US, as well as some member states including Germany. But right-wing lawmakers used the vote to introduce new amendments passed with the support of both right-wing and far-right groups.
Centrist lawmaker Yvan Verougstraete said the amendments stripped the bill of its substance and, for example, could exempt China, a major contributor to global deforestation, from “all obligations.”
Environmentalists said the changes amounted to excluding some EU countries from the law altogether. The amendments de facto restart the legislative process, as the new text must be renegotiated by the commission and member states.
However, environmental groups are calling on the European Commission to halt the process by withdrawing its original request for a postponement. Greenpeace EU forest policy director Sebastien Risso said:
“The European Commission should never have opened the door to this chaos in the first place, and must now withdraw its proposal to prevent further damage. The world’s forests cannot wait.”
An EU executive spokesperson said that “the commission needs to analyse the results of the vote before taking a position.” He also added:
“For now we have taken note.”
