An EU proposal aims to decouple commodity production from deforestation. By strengthening in it four key ways, policymakers can ensure the plan lives up to its ambition.
Soy plantation in Bolivia. China is the leading importer of soy, a commodity that drives tropical deforestation. Photo by Neil Palmer/CIAT via Wikimedia Commons
A recent study by Chinese and international experts argues that China’s leaders are recognizing the importance of greening the country’s commodity value chains. As China reassesses the vulnerability and risks of its global value chains due to the COVID-19 pandemic and considers how to build back its economy with greater resilience and sustainability, the political moment is right to make this shift.
Roughly 40% of tropical forest destruction in the past decade was driven by agricultural expansion, notably the production of “soft” commodities like soy, palm oil and beef, along with industrial-scale logging for timber. This ecosystem damage has a global impact, contributing approximately 23% of global greenhouse gas emissions and posing an unprecedented threat to animal and plant species.