Select committee: Environmental Audit Committee
Conclusion 18
Fourth Report - The UK's contribution to tackling global deforestation
Published 4 Jan 2024
Paragraph 78
Environmental Audit Committee Sustainable timber and deforestation All items in this report Report on parliament.uk ↗ Inquiry on parliament.uk ↗
Conclusion (the committee's words)
The due diligence system established under Schedule 17 will prohibit the use of illegally produced commodities with reference to compliance with local laws. This means that products of legal deforestation will not be within the scope of the system, unlike comparable EU legislation. This is regrettable. Only 31% of deforestation globally is illegal; the wide variation in the strength of local laws on deforestation is a weakness of this approach, and there is the possibility of deregulation in response to the UK’s due diligence requirements.
From: Environmental Audit Committee, Fourth Report - The UK's contribution to tackling global deforestation (HC 405), paragraph 78, 4 January 2024
Government response
The government responded to the whole report on 26 March 2024 (deadline 4 March 2024).
Summary written by Accountability Index from the government's response. It is not the government's own words.The government responds to each of the Committee's 22 recommendations, agreeing with some (including on monitoring and on supporting producer countries) while declining to set a footprint target or widen the Government Buying Standards, and setting out its 'legality-based' approach to due diligence.
- On an environmental footprint target, the government "will not consider setting a target" until it can be certain that it would be supported by a robust evidence base and would not cause unintended consequences such as offshoring of environmental impacts.
- On monitoring, it "agrees" that tracking the global environmental impacts of UK consumption is important and will "continue to explore" how monitoring, measurement and reporting can be developed. It agrees on mined products, noting the work is in its early stages.
- On the Environment Act, it declines to prohibit commodities that are legal locally but linked to deforestation, saying it will "uphold and respect national laws". It says it is "committed to laying secondary legislation as soon as parliamentary time allows".
- On timber, it "plan[s] to commence a review of the Timber Regulations in 2024", with stakeholder engagement details "announced in due course". It is "not currently considering widening the scope" of the Government Buying Standards.