Through its consumption of commodities like meat, dairy, soy, palm oil, coffee and cacao, the EU is responsible for around 10% of global deforestation.

In 2024, a record 6.7 million hectares of primary tropical forests were lost worldwide—nearly double the 2023 rate. This loss doesn’t just harm biodiversity and indigenous communities, but compromises one of humanity’s only weapons against climate change. 

Forests are carbon sinks, meaning they remove CO2 from the atmosphere. Without them, according to the WWF, our fight against climate change is lost. At the current rate at which forests are being destroyed, however, humanity could reach a “tipping point” of no return as early as 2050. 

New one-year delay to the EUDR

In response to this emergency, in 2023, the EU approved a groundbreaking piece of legislation called the EU Deforestation Regulation (EUDR). If implemented, it would ban any product that has contributed to deforestation or forest degradation anywhere in the world from ever entering the EU.

By forcing European importers to pay closer attention to their supply chains, and producers worldwide to invest in sustainability in order to maintain their access to the EU market, the EUDR has the potential to drive immeasurable progress towards a deforestation-free future. 

After a one-year delay, the law was supposed to finally come into effect on December 30th of 2025; except that, in October, faced with opposition from both businesses and member states alike, the EU Commission suggested further postponing its implementation by 6 months. 

It also proposed revising the law in ways that, according to Anke Schulmeister - Oldenhove of the WWF’s European Policy Office, would significantly increase risks of deforestation and illegality in supply chains, as well as punish companies who have already taken steps towards sustainability and compliance. 

“We hear more and more countries calling for further delays, further changes, even a so-called “stop the clock”, (...) [but] what are we calling for?,” she told ChatEurope, “we're calling [to stop something] that is essential for our long-term survival”. 

On Wednesday, November 19, EU countries—led by Austria and Germany, who have always been critical of the law—agreed to push back the EUDR’s implantation by a full year, to the end of 2026, as well as to revise the terms of the law in April, before it comes into effect. 

The EU Parliament still has to back this decision before it becomes official, but chances of the EUDR coming into effect this year are now looking slimmer than ever. 

"Thailand is ready whenever the EU is ready"

Meanwhile, among Europe’s trade partners, those who have been investing and working to prepare for the EUDR’s implementation are experiencing frustration at the EU’s constant back-pedalling.

Dr. Ajaree Tavornmas of consulting firm Access Europe, who has been working closely with the Thai Ministry of Agriculture to ensure Thailand’s preparedness for the EUDR, has witnessed this frustration first hand. 

“Thailand is ready when the EU is ready,” she said to ChatEurope, “but whatever happens, [changes need to be] fair to the ones who already invested in the system, who already committed from the beginning,” she added.

At the end of October, a coalition of some 20 business associations issued a statement calling on the Commission to introduce a “stop-the-clock” mechanism to pause the implementation of the law indefinitely. Just a few delays later, nearly 100 environmental organisations published an open letter demanding that the law be implemented immediately and with no changes.

Discussions in Brussels remain open, and the future of the EUDR uncertain. Meanwhile, a chunk of forest the size of a football field is being destroyed every three seconds.

Claudia Colliva