Brussels Identifies Cocoa, Coffee, and Palm Oil Producing Countries at Risk of Deforestation

Brussels postponed until December 30th the entry into force of its law against deforestation to close the market to products from deforested lands. The European Commission has released the list of countries that produce cocoa, coffee, and palm oil, in which they have detected this risk. Russia, Belarus, North Korea, and Burma lead the list with a "high" level. "The countries identified in the high-risk category in this first reference list are subject to sanctions from the UN Security Council or the European Union Council on the import or export of relevant raw materials and products," the European Commission stated in a statement. The classification is an essential part of the EU's Imported Deforestation Law, a pioneering environmental regulation key to the European Green Pact approved in the previous community legislature, and revised downward with the change of political cycle in Brussels, granting importers one more year to comply with the regulations. The revision occurred ...