The European Council raised concerns surrounding the no risk amendment to the EUDR, passed by the European Parliament in a vote on 14 November. The controversial amendment, which was provisionally dropped by the European leaders on 3 December, was proposed by the European People’s Party (EPP) at the time of the vote.

German MEP, Christine Schneider of the EPP, withdrew the party’s proposal to create the no risk status category under the EUDR on 2 December. “We promised and we have delivered. This postponement means businesses, foresters, farmers and authorities will have an additional year to prepare,” she said in a statement, adding, “An impact assessment and further simplification is to follow in the review stage for the low risk countries or regions providing countries with an incentive to improve their forest conservation practices.”

The EPP’s withdrawal follows the European Parliament’s vote to delay the EUDR by 12 months, which remains in effect. Companies will have one more year to adapt to new EU rules to prevent deforestation, which will ban the sale of products sourced from deforested land in the EU. A statement released by the European Parliament announced that on Tuesday evening (2 December), negotiators from the Parliament and Council reached a provisional political agreement to postpone the application of the new rules. Large operators and traders will now have to respect the obligations of this regulation as of 30 December 2025, and micro- and small enterprises from 30 June 2026. This additional time is intended to help companies around the world implement the rules more smoothly from the beginning, without undermining the objectives of the law.

The Commission proposed postponing the application date of the deforestation regulation by one year in response to concerns raised by EU member states, non-EU countries, traders and operators that they would not be able to fully comply with the rules if applied from the end of 2024.

Following requests from Parliament, The Commission committed to continue easing the burden on businesses by reducing administrative requirements and eliminating unnecessary bureaucratic burdens

In terms of next steps, the vote on the informal agreement between the co-legislators will be added to the agenda of Parliament’s next plenary session (16-19 December). In order for the postponement to enter into force, the agreed text has to be endorsed by both Parliament and Council and published in the EU Official Journal before the end of the year. — Vanessa L Facenda

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Following a vote on 14 November in Brussels, Belgium, the European Parliament confirmed to delay implementing the European Union Deforestation Regulation (EUDR) –a plan that was already endorsed by the Council of Ministers – until December 2025.

Adopted on 19 April 2023 and initially due to be enforced on 30 December 2024, the EUDR proposes to ban the export of products associated with deforestation, such as coffee beans, cocoa beans, soya, cattle, rubber, palm oil, and wood. The law also applies to European farmers.

Third countries, member states, operators and traders will have more time to prepare for the due diligence obligations imposed by the EUDR. Large operators and traders would have to adhere to the requirements stemming from the EUDR as of 30 December 2025, whereas micro- and small enterprises would have until 30 June 2026. In a statement released by the European Parliament, “this additional time would help operators around the world to implement the rules smoothly from the start without undermining the objectives of the law.”

Parliament also adopted other amendments proposed by the political groups such as the European People’s Party (EPP), including the creation of a new category of countries posing “no risk” on deforestation in addition to the existing three categories of “low”, “standard” and “high” risk. Countries classified as “no risk”, defined as countries with stable or increasing forest area development, would face significantly less stringent requirements as there is a negligible or non-existent risk of deforestation. The Commission will have to finalise a country-benchmarking system by 30 June 2025.

Multiple proponents of the EUDR have called out the move. In a statement on LinkedIn, Rainforest Alliance said the no-risk category would be “a death sentence to the EUDR.”

The World Wildlife Fund (WWF) issued a statement saying, “The European Parliament, driven by the European People’s Party (EPP), voted for amendments to substantially weaken the EU Deforestation Regulation (EUDR) de facto deregulating and undermining one of the EU’s landmark environmental laws. By introducing a category of “no risk” countries, the EPP and its allies have effectively voted to enable further forest destruction both within and outside of Europe. The move undermines the efforts of forward-thinking companies that have invested in deforestation-free supply chains to comply with EUDR requirements in time for its application on 30 December 2024.”

Parliament is now referring this file back to committee for interinstitutional negotiations. In order for these changes to enter into force, the agreed text will have to be endorsed by both Council and Parliament and published in the EU Official Journal.

The UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) estimates that 420 million hectares of forest – an area larger than the EU – were lost to deforestation between 1990 and 2020. EU consumption represents around 10% of global deforestation. Palm oil and soya beans account for more than two-thirds of this. — Vanessa L Facenda

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The most important item on the agenda was the draft text of the new International Coffee Agreement 2022, the result of decisions made in twenty-eight meetings of the Working Group on the Future of the Agreement. The new agreement has been reviewed to improve international cooperation among all coffee stakeholders both at the public and private levels, so as to achieve a sustainable and resilient coffee sector with a specific focus on the livelihoods of coffee farmers and other producers. The revised structure of the agreement – which foresees the transformation of the Coffee Public-Private Task Force into a permanent Working Party – bears witness to the recognised need to enhance dialogue and build new partnerships with the private sector and civil society to jointly address common challenges such as climate change and the negative repercussion of the Covid-19 pandemic.

A new system for the calculation of votes and contributions that better reflects the reality of the coffee global value chain is also expected to be introduced to promote a fairer distribution of financial commitments among Members and enhance the financial sustainability of the ICO. The Council decided to hold a Special Session on 8 and 9 June 2022 to consider the adoption of the new Agreement.

The Council expressed its appreciation and praise for the advances the Coffee Public-Private Task Force has made in the mobilization of a substantial amount of resources to carry out the transformation of the coffee sector thanks to the high-impact engagement with all actors of the global coffee value chain in a variety of areas, including living and prosperous income for coffee growers, market transparency, building resilient coffee landscapes addressing also gender transformation and deforestation. In the spirit of ensuring continuity to the activities of the Task Force, ICO Members approved the concept note for an overall funding proposal for the period 2022-2026, as well as the proposal from Technical Workstream 3 ‘Sector Transformation – Exporting Members’ containing specific actions for the benefit of coffee producers and stakeholders facilitated by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and by the Global Coffee Platform (GCP).

In view of the discussions in the Private Sector Consultative Board following a presentation by the European Coffee Federation (ECF) on the new draft Directive on Deforestation, the Council requested the Secretariat to continue monitoring and establish appropriate mechanisms, possibly within the CPPTF so that the ICO could voice the interest as well as the concerns of all coffee stakeholders before the European Union.

Members also appointed Massimiliano Fabian of EU-Italy as the new vice chair of the International Coffee Council, as well as Zoltan Agai of the European Commission as chair of the Finance and Administration Committee (FAC) for coffee year 2021-22. ICO Members and the Secretariat expressed their gratitude to José Sette for his five years of service (2017-2022) as the executive director of the ICO and for the achievements obtained for the benefit of the global coffee sector under his leadership. On 1 May, Sette will be succeeded by Vanúsia Maria Carneiro Nogueira, the first woman to lead the ICO since its creation.

The Council will resume in-person meetings starting with the last session of coffee year 2021-22, which will be held in Bogotá from 3-7 October 2022 following the generous offer made by the Government of Colombia to host the 134th Session of the Council.

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However, Fairtrade states that climate measures that exclude fairness and social justice from the core of their targets are measures that will once again fail to achieve real climate action.

Inequality, biodiversity loss, and the impacts of climate change are interconnected issues for the millions of smallholder families whose livelihoods depend on cocoa and coffee exports to the EU.

The new European Commission proposal to ban imports does provide market incentives for climate actions. But, Fairtrade comments, unless those incentives are accompanied by additional efforts addressing the structural injustices and systemic inequities that afflict struggling smallholder farmers, then the proposal will prove wholly inadequate. Simply put: deforestation will not be addressed by banning imports of cocoa and coffee from smallholder families living in poverty.

In its statement, Fairtrade further emphasises that “A just transition to deforestation-free production must be inclusive, incorporating pathways to living income and more equal value distribution for cocoa and coffee farmers and their families. Above all, the fight against deforestation must empower smallholder farmers and include them in the process of constructive climate action.

“Capacity will need to be built and systems put in place to enable smallholders’ cooperatives to play their role in providing assurance and retain the market access to the EU that enables their smallholder farmer members to feed their families. The efforts needed to ensure a just transition for smallholders are significant and will require investment, dialogue, and a sense of urgency from governments and businesses alike.”

Fairtrade says it looks forward to engaging with the EU in designing that just transition, facilitating an urgent dialogue with smallholder farmers, and working towards a greener future that embraces sustainable production, climate resilience and decent livelihoods for all.

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