Energy & Climate
Protecting forests in Africa
Africa’s forests have switched from absorbing to emitting carbon, new study finds.
5 December 2025
The European Parliament’s decision to weaken two flagship sustainability laws is ‘a reckless assault on protections for forests, frontline communities and future generations’, Global Witness has warned.
After months of successive delays, the EU is taking an axe to the EU Deforestation Regulation (EUDR) and the Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive (CSDDD) – just before they were meant to deliver real protection for forests, people and the climate.
Campaigners said that instead of focusing on effective implementation, EU institutions have chosen to reopen and dilute legislation that was already agreed, creating uncertainty and undermining accountability.
With a vote on the EU’s flagship forest protection law set to take place today (17 December), Parliament is expected to endorse a second 12-month delay to the EUDR’s application for large operators.
More alarmingly, this includes approval of a so-called ‘simplification’ review clause scheduled for April 2026.
Global Witness warned that this clause will open the door to potential further rollbacks of the law, rewarding the worst actors driving deforestation while disadvantaging responsible companies.
At the same time, the EU Parliament has confirmed the outcome of trilogue negotiations on the CSDDD, stripping the law of some of its most essential safeguards.
Mandatory climate transition plans have been entirely removed, access to justice provisions scrapped and the deadline for company compliance pushed back to July 2029.
‘This is a historic betrayal of forest communities and all those who fought for a strong deforestation law that holds corporates accountable.
‘Instead of delivering certainty and enforcement, EU institutions have chosen uncertainty by design – a gift to companies that continue to profit from forest loss and weak corporate oversight.’
BEATE BELLER
Global Witness Senior EU Campaigner
Global Witness strongly criticised the justification for reopening the EUDR, including IT issues, arguing that this mirrors the same flawed lawmaking that hollowed out the CSDDD.
According to the organisation, both files are now left vulnerable to legal challenges, political backtracking and further dilution.
Taken together, the outcomes on the EUDR and CSDDD reflect a broader political failure to stand up to corporate pressure and to legislate at a scale that matches the climate, biodiversity and human rights crises, Global Witness said.
‘Scrapping climate transition plans from the CSDDD sends a devastating signal at a time of accelerating climate breakdown. Without enforceable climate obligations or access to justice for victims of corporate abuse, this law risks becoming an empty shell – big on rhetoric, short on accountability.
‘Europe cannot credibly claim climate leadership while systematically dismantling the very laws designed to support a liveable future.
‘What we are seeing has never been about simplification – it is deregulation. This is tragic culmination of a lobbying campaign orchestrated by corporate forces intent on prioritising profit over human rights and the future of our planet. And its consequences will be felt far beyond Europe.’
BEATE BELLER
Global Witness Senior EU Campaigner
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