Press release: 5 June 2020
Deforestation-free businesses and finance should be new norm in UK: briefing
The UK must adopt mandatory due diligence laws to tackle its environmental footprint overseas, address associated human rights violations, and stop the flow of money leading to deforestation, environmental groups have warned.
In a briefing released today, environmental law charity ClientEarth and international NGO Global Witness, urged the Government to require UK companies and financial institutions to assess and mitigate the impact their supply chains and financing have on forests. This is critical to protect biodiversity and mitigate climate change, as well as for local communities and Indigenous People.
As the Environment Bill makes its way through Parliament, campaigners says that this is a prime opportunity for the UK to show global leadership in mandating for change.
ClientEarth lawyer Clotilde Henriot said: “The UK has a significant deforestation footprint. A land area almost the size of UK itself is needed to produce enough commodities – such as beef and palm oil – to sustain the nation’s demand.
“Without laws in place mandating they do their homework, businesses are contributing to overseas deforestation through their choice of suppliers and finance flows.
“Companies will also benefit from this intervention, as it should help them to be more resilient in the long term, assisting them to reduce their business risks and potential reputational damage of being linked to deforestation and human rights violations.”
The issue was highlighted by the government-appointed Global Resource Initiative taskforce in March. It recommended the urgent introduction of a mandatory due diligence obligation on companies that place commodities and derived products that contribute to deforestation on the UK market. It also recommended action to ensure similar principles are applied to the finance industry.
Jo Blackman, Head of Forests Policy and Advocacy, Global Witness said:
“Mandatory due diligence would help establish deforestation-free finance and supply chains as standard business practice. It would make a bold and important statement – from the UK government and business alike – that they are no longer prepared to be complicit in fuelling the destruction of vital forests.”
Campaigners said such legislation would help the UK economy ‘build back better’ in its recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic, while protecting forests around the world. Such forests play a crucial role in sustaining biodiversity and supporting forest communities, which are particularly vulnerable to human rights abuses as a result of deforestation.
Blackman added: “If we’re to ensure a green recovery it is not just decarbonisation and green jobs at home that need to be on the checklist. We need to address the impact of the agribusiness products we consume on huge swathes of climate-critical forests.”
ENDS
About ClientEarth
ClientEarth is a charity that uses the power of the law to protect people and the planet. We are international lawyers finding practical solutions for the world’s biggest environmental challenges. We are fighting climate change, protecting oceans and wildlife, making forest governance stronger, greening energy, making business more responsible and pushing for government transparency. We believe the law is a tool for positive change. From our offices in London, Brussels, Warsaw, Berlin and Beijing, we work on laws throughout their lifetime, from the earliest stages to implementation. And when those laws are broken, we go to court to enforce them.