Biodiversity law and regulation
35
In late 2021, reacting to a delay in EU Due Diligence legislation, the Dutch government announced that it will develop its own national mHREDD law. 205 The UK has recently created a new environmental due diligence obligation under the Environment Act 2021 which became law on 9 November 2021. Section 116 and Schedule 17 of the Act enable the Secretary of State to make regulations to prevent illegal deforestation through UK supply chains. Under the regulations, which are yet to be enacted, it will be illegal for large businesses over a certain threshold to use “forest risk commodities” or derivative products which are not produced in line with local environmental laws. 206 The regulations will include provisions on how businesses should conduct due diligence, what information should be included in annual reports, and civil and criminal sanctions for breach. A consultation on these issues concludes in March 2022. 207 The consultation has proposed that the forest risk commodities in scope should be cattle (beef and leather), cocoa, coffee, maize, palm oil, rubber, and soy.
CRITICISM OF FOREST RISK COMMODITIES DUE DILIGENCE IN UK ENVIRONMENT ACT
Environmental NGO ClientEarth has criticised the due diligence provisions in the UK EA, noting that they only target forest risk commodities that are produced illegally under producer country laws. ClientEarth notes that approximately one-third of global tropical deforestation is considered ‘legal’ under local laws and cites as an example a package of laws the Brazilian Government is in the process of passing that would weaken or abolish protections for forests, protected areas and Indigenous Peoples. If passed, such laws would legalise millions of hectares of deforestation, taking it out of scope of the EA’s due diligence focus. 208
205 Dutch minister announces national corporate due diligence legislation, Busi- ness & Human Rights Resource Centre, 6 December 2021. 206 Government sets out world-leading new measures to protect rainforests, Defra, 11 November 2020. 207 Government sets out plans to clean up the UK’s supply chains to help protect forests, Defra, 3 December 2021.
208 The UK Environment Act is now law: here’s what it means, Client Earth, 7 December 2020.
Made with FlippingBook flipbook maker