GREEN REVANCHISM
EU proposes new delay to anti-deforestation rules
By AFP
September 23, 2025
A palm oil plantation next to a peat forest in Indonesia -
By AFP
September 23, 2025
A palm oil plantation next to a peat forest in Indonesia -
Copyright AFP STR
Umberto BACCHI
The EU said Tuesday it will seek a new one-year delay to sweeping anti-deforestation rules cheered by green groups but assailed by key trading partners from the United States to Indonesia.
Environmental groups reacted angrily to the prospect of postponing the bill, which was to ban imports of products driving deforestation from the end of 2025, saying it called into question the EU’s climate commitment.
But the European Commission said the logistical infrastructure for implementing the law — already once pushed back a year — was not yet ready.
“We have concluded that we cannot meet the original deadline without causing disruptions to our businesses and supply chains,” commission spokesman Olof Gill told a press conference in Brussels.
The European Union executive will push to delay the law’s entry into force to late 2026, “to avoid uncertainty for authorities and to avoid operational difficulties for companies,” he added.
The postponement needs approval by member states and the European Parliament.
The move is set to bring renewed scrutiny to the EU’s commitment to a greener future, which has come under increased pressure from governments and industry over the past year.
It came hours after the commission struck a free-trade deal with Indonesia, a prominent critic of the law — although environment commissioner Jessika Roswall said the two developments were “not linked at all”.
The deforestation law was hailed by environmental groups when it was adopted as a major breakthrough in the fight to protect nature and combat climate change.
It prohibits a vast range of goods — from coffee to cocoa, soy, timber, palm oil, cattle, printing paper and rubber — if produced using land that was deforested after December 2020.
– ‘Capacity concerns’ –
Firms importing the merchandise in question to the 27-nation EU will be responsible for tracking their supply chains to prove goods did not originate from deforested zones, relying on geolocation and satellite data.
But the ban has faced opposition from trading partners including Brazil and the United States, and some EU capitals, amid concerns over red tape, costs and lack of clarity over some aspects of the law.
Partially because of this, its entry into force was pushed back by 12 months a first time in 2024.
The commission said the new delay had to do with “serious capacity concerns” regarding the IT system designed to support implementation of the rules.
The EU has adapted an in-house platform already in use in other domains to receive declarations from importers, re-sellers and other operators that the goods they are dealing with do not come from deforested areas.
But it had largely underestimated how many would use the site and failed to foresee that some users would prompt it more than once to receive a reply, an EU official speaking on condition of anonymity explained.
Tests showed initial estimates that the site would handle around 100 million declarations per year are off by at least a factor of 10, the official said, adding the commission needed time to “find the most appropriate solution”.
– ‘Wider battle’ –
Environmentalists fear the delay will provide room for critics to water down the bill’s requirements — something EU lawmakers on the right already unsuccessfully attempted to do after the first postponement.
The push comes as climate has increasingly taken a back seat in Brussels, with global trade tensions and the war in Ukraine shifting the focus to industry and defence.
“This is part of a wider battle: between those who want to protect the natural world and the life systems which depend on it, and those intent on destroying it, often driven by narrow self-interest,” said Nicole Polsterer, of environmental group Fern.
“Every day this law is delayed equates to more forests razed, more wildfires and more extreme weather.”
Critics of the law say it imposes an excessively heavy administrative burden on farmers and companies.
But WWF, another environmental group, said a new delay would lead to “massive stranded costs” for all firms that had already invested in complying with the new rules.
“If this technical issue is real, this shows not only incompetence, but also a clear lack of political will to invest sufficiently in a timely implementation,” said Anke Schulmeister-Oldenhove, WWF’s forest policy manager.
Umberto BACCHI
The EU said Tuesday it will seek a new one-year delay to sweeping anti-deforestation rules cheered by green groups but assailed by key trading partners from the United States to Indonesia.
Environmental groups reacted angrily to the prospect of postponing the bill, which was to ban imports of products driving deforestation from the end of 2025, saying it called into question the EU’s climate commitment.
But the European Commission said the logistical infrastructure for implementing the law — already once pushed back a year — was not yet ready.
“We have concluded that we cannot meet the original deadline without causing disruptions to our businesses and supply chains,” commission spokesman Olof Gill told a press conference in Brussels.
The European Union executive will push to delay the law’s entry into force to late 2026, “to avoid uncertainty for authorities and to avoid operational difficulties for companies,” he added.
The postponement needs approval by member states and the European Parliament.
The move is set to bring renewed scrutiny to the EU’s commitment to a greener future, which has come under increased pressure from governments and industry over the past year.
It came hours after the commission struck a free-trade deal with Indonesia, a prominent critic of the law — although environment commissioner Jessika Roswall said the two developments were “not linked at all”.
The deforestation law was hailed by environmental groups when it was adopted as a major breakthrough in the fight to protect nature and combat climate change.
It prohibits a vast range of goods — from coffee to cocoa, soy, timber, palm oil, cattle, printing paper and rubber — if produced using land that was deforested after December 2020.
– ‘Capacity concerns’ –
Firms importing the merchandise in question to the 27-nation EU will be responsible for tracking their supply chains to prove goods did not originate from deforested zones, relying on geolocation and satellite data.
But the ban has faced opposition from trading partners including Brazil and the United States, and some EU capitals, amid concerns over red tape, costs and lack of clarity over some aspects of the law.
Partially because of this, its entry into force was pushed back by 12 months a first time in 2024.
The commission said the new delay had to do with “serious capacity concerns” regarding the IT system designed to support implementation of the rules.
The EU has adapted an in-house platform already in use in other domains to receive declarations from importers, re-sellers and other operators that the goods they are dealing with do not come from deforested areas.
But it had largely underestimated how many would use the site and failed to foresee that some users would prompt it more than once to receive a reply, an EU official speaking on condition of anonymity explained.
Tests showed initial estimates that the site would handle around 100 million declarations per year are off by at least a factor of 10, the official said, adding the commission needed time to “find the most appropriate solution”.
– ‘Wider battle’ –
Environmentalists fear the delay will provide room for critics to water down the bill’s requirements — something EU lawmakers on the right already unsuccessfully attempted to do after the first postponement.
The push comes as climate has increasingly taken a back seat in Brussels, with global trade tensions and the war in Ukraine shifting the focus to industry and defence.
“This is part of a wider battle: between those who want to protect the natural world and the life systems which depend on it, and those intent on destroying it, often driven by narrow self-interest,” said Nicole Polsterer, of environmental group Fern.
“Every day this law is delayed equates to more forests razed, more wildfires and more extreme weather.”
Critics of the law say it imposes an excessively heavy administrative burden on farmers and companies.
But WWF, another environmental group, said a new delay would lead to “massive stranded costs” for all firms that had already invested in complying with the new rules.
“If this technical issue is real, this shows not only incompetence, but also a clear lack of political will to invest sufficiently in a timely implementation,” said Anke Schulmeister-Oldenhove, WWF’s forest policy manager.
Germany’s Merz rejects claims he is slowing green shift
By AFP
September 24, 2025
The German government wants to build more gas power plants - Copyright AFP William WEST
German Chancellor Friedrich Merz on Wednesday rejected claims his government was undermining the climate change fight, but insisted that industry also needed to be protected to revive the crisis-wracked economy.
Critics charge that Merz’s conservative-led coalition is putting a brake on the shift to green energy through measures ranging from a planned expansion of gas power to proposals to scrap some renewable energy subsidies.
In a fiery debate in parliament marked by loud heckling from the opposition benches, the chancellor noted his critics claimed he was “undermining climate protection”.
“Nothing could be further from the truth,” said Merz, whose centre-right CDU/CSU bloc governs in coalition with the centre-left SPD.
He stressed he wanted climate protection “without ideology. That is the difference between us and the last government”.
In the previous administration, the Greens party helmed the economy ministry and pushed ambitious measures to accelerate the energy transition — some of which caused unease among businesses about extra burdens at a time they were already struggling.
“Climate protection that jeopardises or even destroys the industrial base of our country, climate protection that jeopardises our country’s prosperity — that will not be accepted by the population,” Merz said.
Anyone who did not take this into account will “not only fail in climate protection — they will also fail fundamentally in terms of social cohesion in our country”, he said.
Merz repeatedly stressed his government was open to using various different technologies — from gas power plants to carbon capture and storage — in an effort to achieve greenhouse gas neutrality while also protecting vital industries.
Germany aims to reach greenhouse gas neutrality by 2045, and a substantial proportion of electricity in Europe’s top economy already comes from renewable sources.
Greens party lawmaker Britta Hasselmann accused Merz of taking a “step backwards into the past”.
“If you invoke this openness to technology, why do you want to stifle the very thing that has made this country so successful — namely, the expansion of renewable energies?”
Merz’s government is seeking to revive the eurozone’s traditional powerhouse, which shrank for the past two years, and advocates a more pragmatic approach to the energy transition that it says will ensure costs stay manageable.
By AFP
September 24, 2025
The German government wants to build more gas power plants - Copyright AFP William WEST
German Chancellor Friedrich Merz on Wednesday rejected claims his government was undermining the climate change fight, but insisted that industry also needed to be protected to revive the crisis-wracked economy.
Critics charge that Merz’s conservative-led coalition is putting a brake on the shift to green energy through measures ranging from a planned expansion of gas power to proposals to scrap some renewable energy subsidies.
In a fiery debate in parliament marked by loud heckling from the opposition benches, the chancellor noted his critics claimed he was “undermining climate protection”.
“Nothing could be further from the truth,” said Merz, whose centre-right CDU/CSU bloc governs in coalition with the centre-left SPD.
He stressed he wanted climate protection “without ideology. That is the difference between us and the last government”.
In the previous administration, the Greens party helmed the economy ministry and pushed ambitious measures to accelerate the energy transition — some of which caused unease among businesses about extra burdens at a time they were already struggling.
“Climate protection that jeopardises or even destroys the industrial base of our country, climate protection that jeopardises our country’s prosperity — that will not be accepted by the population,” Merz said.
Anyone who did not take this into account will “not only fail in climate protection — they will also fail fundamentally in terms of social cohesion in our country”, he said.
Merz repeatedly stressed his government was open to using various different technologies — from gas power plants to carbon capture and storage — in an effort to achieve greenhouse gas neutrality while also protecting vital industries.
Germany aims to reach greenhouse gas neutrality by 2045, and a substantial proportion of electricity in Europe’s top economy already comes from renewable sources.
Greens party lawmaker Britta Hasselmann accused Merz of taking a “step backwards into the past”.
“If you invoke this openness to technology, why do you want to stifle the very thing that has made this country so successful — namely, the expansion of renewable energies?”
Merz’s government is seeking to revive the eurozone’s traditional powerhouse, which shrank for the past two years, and advocates a more pragmatic approach to the energy transition that it says will ensure costs stay manageable.
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