Tanah Merah oil palm plantation, Indonesia. January 2020.
PRESS RELEASE
23 September 2025
Today, the EU Commission has announced it is considering another 12-month delay to the EU Deforestation Regulation (EUDR), a law which aims to prevent EU consumption from driving deforestation and associated lawbreaking across the world. This is the second delay to the EUDR’s implementation, which was initially set for December 2024.
Environment Commissioner Jessika Roswall blamed the delay on concerns about the IT infrastructure needed to implement the law. Worryingly, she did not rule out making further changes in the name of ‘simplification’.
Earthsight’s Director, Sam Lawson, said:
“Yet again, the EU Commission is sacrificing the world’s forests to appease industry laggards.
Delaying the law to iron out a few IT problems puts the entire EUDR at risk. The European People’s Party has already stated it will use this opportunity to try to weaken the law.
This proposal to delay the EUDR rewards those who have sat on their hands, while punishing the thousands of large and small businesses which have invested time and money in preparing for the law.
Businesses in Europe and across the world have had years to get ready for this law. Many of the companies covered by the EUDR have long committed to getting deforestation out of their supply chains.
Every second of delay means more forest lost to satisfy European consumption. Based on the EU’s own estimates, the deforestation impacts of a year’s delay to the law will be equivalent to the carbon emissions of 18 million cars.1
We urge the European Parliament and Council to reject the Commission’s proposal and implement the law by the end of December as planned.”
ENDS
Notes to Editors
- The EUDR bans the import or trade within Europe of palm oil, beef, leather, cocoa, coffee, soy, rubber and timber – and some derived goods – produced illegally or on land deforested since 2020.
- Earthsight is a London-based non-profit committed to exposing environmental and social crime and their links to global consumption.
- The Doorstop from the European Commissioner for Environment, Water Resilience and a Competitive Circular Economy is available here: https://audiovisual.ec.europa.eu/en/media/video/I-277574
- The Commissioner’s letter to the EU Parliament and Council is here: https://www.euractiv.com/content/uploads/sites/2/2025/09/EUDR.pdf
- The EPP’s comments are available at: https://www.euractiv.com/news/eu-set-to-propose-new-delay-to-anti-deforestation-rules/
- The EUDR was passed in June 2023, following three years of discussion and debate, was delayed for one year at the end of 2024.
Contacts:
Earthsight Director, Sam Lawson
Earthsight Policy and Communications Lead, Fyfe Strachan
1Based on reduced emissions of 49MT C02 emissions per year in 2030. Source: Bougas, K, et al., European Commission (DG ENV) Service contract on EU policy on forest products and deforestation, Task 3 -Impact assessment on demand side measures to address deforestation. Final report. November 2021, p. 6. “annual CO2 reduction potential of 49Mt is equivalent to the CO2 emissions of 18 million cars.” Source.
