Netherlands tops EU importers list for third country products linked to deforestation

The Netherlands is the EU’s largest importer of products with a high risk of deforestation from third countries, including soy, palm oil and cocoa, the country’s statistics agency CBS reported on Thursday.

Brazil is the largest third-country exporter of deforestation-linked goods to the Netherlands, delivering products – especially soy and wood – worth €3.2 billion in 2022. The United States was the second largest source of deforestation products, followed by Côte d’Ivoire.

“The Netherlands is the largest EU importer of soy, palm oil and cocoa from non-EU countries in terms of import value,” the agency stated on its website.

“The Netherlands is also the second EU importer of wood and beef from non-EU countries, and the sixth EU importer of coffee (much of which comes in via Germany and Belgium),” it added.

While 28% of deforestation-related products are immediately re-exported, 33% are re-exported after processing in the Netherlands, and 39% remain in the country, with timber, coffee and beef mainly falling into the latter category.

The feed industry is the largest consumer of deforestation-linked products within the Netherlands, using roughly 41% of the imports that are not immediately re-exported.

The EU has recently ramped up its efforts to ban products linked to deforestation within the bloc, with lawmakers agreeing on an anti-deforestation law that was voted on in the European Parliament in April. The law will apply to large and medium-sized companies 18 months after its approval last May, while small and micro businesses will have 24 months to implement the legislation.

However, the report was met with outrage by lawmakers and climate activists.

“Our climate damage is not only within the Netherlands. As a trading country, we also contribute to deforestation and CO2 emissions worldwide. Where a small country can be big,” wrote MP Suzanne Kröger (GL/EU Greens) on X.

“So good that the EU Forest Law will ban our involvement in global deforestation,” added Sigrid Deters, biodiversity campaigner at Greenpeace NL, while calling for a law that punishes financial institutions that profit from climate-unfriendly trading practices.

(Benedikt Stöckl | Euractiv.com)