Calls grow for laws requiring firms to reveal links to deforestation

By Bibi van der Zee, Alexandra Heal and Andrew Wasley

There is growing support in the UK and Europe for laws that would make due diligence on issues such as deforestation and human rights abuses mandatory for large businesses.

NGOs have been pushing for regulatory action for at least a decade. But this year governments and, more surprisingly, the private sector have swung behind the cause.

France introduced a law on duty of diligence in 2017 which places a civil liability on large businesses that fail to monitor and prevent human rights and environmental abuses in their supply chain. The first case is currently going through the courts and is being closely watched.

Due diligence laws — in subtly varying forms and covering different issues — have also been introduced or are pending in Norway, the UK, the Netherlands, Switzerland, Finland and Germany. The Liberal Democrats in the UK have backed due diligence reporting in their manifesto for the current election.

In July the European commission set out the case for protecting forests and warned that “EU consumption of food and feed products is among the main drivers of environmental impacts, creating high pressure on forests in non-EU countries and accelerating deforestation.” It…