EU policymakers are expecting to sign off on a new law in the coming weeks aiming to prevent the sale of products such as palm oil, coffee and chocolate if they have been produced on deforested land.
Under the proposed legislation – which has been in the works for several years – companies need to prove that they did not produce certain goods on land that has been deforested since 31 December 2020.
The law has been welcomed by EU institutes and nations who say it will help to reduce the bloc’s contribution to deforestation around the world.
But others have criticised the regulation for the effects it may have on non-EU countries and small farmers.
In this article, Carbon Brief examines how the legislation will work, the issues raised by commodity producer countries such as Malaysia and how the EU assessed the law’s potential environmental impacts.