The European Union’s drive to make its supply chain greener risks leading to a scorched-earth policy. A planned on agricultural imports from deforested land will affect developing countries producing commodities like timber and palm oil.
The move is already causing exports to go elsewhere. If she doesn’t want to lose vital commodities, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen will either have to offer aid or back down on labour and environmental protections.
The EU Deforestation Regulation (EUDR), due to come into force on Dec. 30, will prevent goods that can be traced to deforested land from entering the bloc. Products like palm oil and coffee are likely to affected and the price of these will lead to further inflation.
The additional benefit to the EU for these policies is that this will allow the EU to support more EU products, which is why the EU based think tanks are pushing for the ban. It is using legislation to create a protectionist economy for the EU.
This will mean EU companies will rebrand or finish products via brokers in the EU and climate policy will lack the teeth to make any real impact.