EU Proposal On Deforestation Free Products

The European Parliament voted in favour of a Regulation that would restrict imports to “deforestation-free” products for EU bloc countries on a set of commodities that have been identified as key drivers of deforestation.A reduction of 31.9 million metric tons of carbon emissions is achievable with adoption of the law, which sets international precedent in regulating a high-emission supply and demand chain.The outlined definition of deforestation is weak, and the land-type to which the regulations will apply is limited to natural forests. Other ecosystems have not been considered.

Aviation: EU ETS & CORSIA

Aviation emissions have increased significantly in the EU, despite intra-EEA flights being included in the EU Emissions Trading System (ETS) since 2012. The revision proposes several changes such as the end of free allocation and a stronger decline of the ETS cap. CORSIA is an international mechanism to address aviation emissions, but has several flaws that threaten to severely diminish its effectiveness.