Key actions to safeguard against deforestation in the EU Taxonomy

This paper sets out key actions to better safeguard against deforestation in the EU Taxonomy, building on the key findings of our scrutiny of the Taxo4 report (Technical screening criteria of the EU Taxonomy’s remaining 4 environmental objectives by the EU Platform on Sustainable Finance).

Deforestation is an important threat to the EU Taxonomy’s environmental objectives, not only as a direct result of certain economic activities (such as agriculture, farming, mining or construction), but also because many sectors and industries are (indirectly) responsible for deforestation through forest-risk commodities in their supply chains. The EU Taxonomy is structured along different economic activities and the technical screening criteria were developed in parallel by separate sector teams. This made it nearly impossible to capture the complex interdependencies and links across sectors, activities and commodities.

Our recommendations include, amongst others, how to better safeguard against deforestation beyond isolated activity-specific criteria, better include supply chain and verification guidance, and increase policy coherence with other deforestation and supply chain-relevant regulatory measures (Regulation on Deforestation-free Products, Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive, Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive).

Special thanks to our co-authors at Climate Focus.