In 2021, the U.K. appeared to be making serious strides against illegal deforestation when lawmakers introduced “forest risk” regulations on imported commodities like beef, soy, palm oil, cocoa, coffee and rubber. But critics have said the rules are surprisingly weak, requiring another round of legislation to be effective.

Lawmakers have spent the last four years delaying the implementation of the forest risk regulations, which are part of a larger law called the Environment Act. In that time, the country has imported commodities that have destroyed huge amounts of forest across the globe, according to a recent report from Global Witness.

“The UK government has described the Environment Act as ‘world leading,’ but we beg to differ,” the U.K.-based NGO said in the report.

High-risk commodities imported to the U.K. contributed to 13,500 hectares (nearly 33,400 acres) of global deforestation in 2024, according to the report. Since the Environment Act was passed in 2021, the country’s imports have resulted in more than 39,300 hectares (97,100 acres) of deforestation.

Agribusiness continues to be the worst aggressor, the NGO said. Between November 2021 and December 2024, Brazil cattle products alone caused almost a third of the U.K.’s total deforestation footprint, amounting to 12,856 hectares (31,768 acres).

Palm oil was responsible for more than 11,644 hectares (28,773 acres) of deforestation, most notably affecting rainforests in Papua New Guinea and Indonesia. These two countries together lost 10,975 hectares (27,120 acres) as a result of business with the U.K.

“The dramatic forest loss we have seen in recent decades is concerning,” the report said. “On top of the emissions caused by fossil fuels, deforestation is an emitter itself, as trees release much of the CO₂ they have locked up into the air when they’re cut down — especially if the wood is burned.”

The Environment Act prohibits commodities that cause illegal deforestation from being sold in the U.K. and requires importers to establish a due diligence system for their products. It also requires that they produce an annual report on efforts to remove deforestation from their supply chains.

The law has been criticized for only including illegal — not legal — deforestation, which could allow some countries to loosen domestic restrictions so products still qualify for trade. Critics have pointed to the EU Deforestation Regulation, which targets legal and illegal deforestation, as a better model.

The Environment Act as it’s currently written also needs secondary legislation to “operationalize” the import requirements, Steve Barclay, the U.K’s then-secretary of state for environment, food and rural affairs, said in 2023. That means establishing how the requirements will be enforced and explaining to businesses how to meet due diligence measures, including what information needs to be collected and how it should be reported to the government.

Secondary legislation would also involve establishing a timeline for companies making operational changes to meet the new regulations.

During the COP28 climate summit in Dubai in 2023, the U.K. delegation from the then-Conservative government announced the list of commodities that could be included in the Environment Law, and explained that businesses with more than 50 million pounds ($65 million) in global annual turnover and using more than 500 metric tons of commodities per year would need to source from land they could prove wasn’t illegally deforested.

However, parliament never passed the additional legislation to implement the regulations.

The Labour Party took control of parliament in July 2024 but hasn’t passed the legislation, either. According to Global Witness, around half of the deforestation-linked products imported to the U.K. last year were shipped during the new term.

“We have already waited over three years for this law to come into force,” the Global Witness report said. “Further delays will only leave the UK liable for more forest destruction, more carbon emissions, more violence against Indigenous peoples and more strain on thousands of already struggling plant and animal species.”

Banner image: Burning rainforest to make room for palm oil plantations in Indonesia. Photo by Peter Prokosch via Flickr. CC BY-NC-SA 2.0

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