A crucial new European law to save global forests is under attack, by the Biden Administration – precisely at the time Biden seeks to burnish his environmental credentials. The regulation at stake? It’s the EU Deforestation Regulation (EUDR), a law that’s widely considered the best hope for the lungs of our planet. Yet the U.S. Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimundo, Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack, and Trade Representative Katherine Tai sent a letter to the European Commission demanding that the European Union delay the EUDR. Their letter parroted ill-informed arguments put forth by a small number of the U.S.’s least ethical producers, and ignored how thousands of companies and investors representing trillions of dollars are on the opposite side, actively supporting the EUDR. Cattle ranching is a leading cause of deforestation in Brazil, and much of the resulting beef is exported. Image © Marizilda Cruppe/Greenpeace. Worse yet, the letter in essence asked Europe to penalize the most law-abiding companies, many of which are already investing in due diligence and deploying all their resources to ensure timely compliance. Delaying the EUDR, as Vilsack asks, would hurt companies that started early and reward the laggards. The truth is that American producers are perfectly capable of producing the products regulated by the EUDR without deforestation, namely soy, cattle, timber, cocoa, rubber, and coffee. Indeed, the United States should be the foremost supporter of the EUDR, perhaps unlike other producer countries that are less able to control significant deforestation in the regulated commodities. Here’s why: new…This article was originally published on Mongabay
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