EUDR postponement is “profound failure of leadership”
Responding to the legislation being postponed for another year, Mighty Earth warns that EU leaders are putting forests and the law at risk
5 December 2025
The Council of the European Union and the European Parliament have agreed to go beyond the proposal by the European Commission to weaken the landmark European Union Deforestation Regulation (EUDR). The approved changes include drastically reducing due diligence obligations and postponing the application of the EUDR until 30 December 2026 for all companies, with an extra six-month for micro and small operators, while also introducing a review that would allow the European Commission to reopen the regulation in April 2026 to make additional changes, potentially further weakening the legislation.
Moreover, the rushed and unfounded changes introduced at this final stage create significant legal uncertainty. They mirror procedural shortcomings identified by the European Ombudswoman in her recent findings of maladministration in how several urgent legislative proposals have been prepared. By bypassing adequate oversight, impact assessments and democratic checks, the EU is exposing itself to potentially serious legal risks and challenges — jeopardising years of policy development and further eroding public trust.
Isabel Fernandez, Senior Advisor for Mighty Earth said:
“The agreement reached between the European Parliament and the Council on the EUDR is a massive blow and an alarming betrayal of the EU’s own promise to stop deforestation. This is a profound failure of leadership.”
“Instead of standing firm for environmental integrity and true climate leadership and rejecting the proposal by the European Commission, decisionmakers have sided with political saboteurs and corporate lobbyists over most Europeans who want to protect nature. They have chosen to weaken a cornerstone regulation at the very moment when courage, consistency, and bold action should be prioritized to address the climate and nature crisis.”
“These efforts to dilute and postpone the EUDR by another year will encourage further efforts to erode its capacity to deliver urgently needed climate and biodiversity outcomes, prolong the EU’s harmful footprint on forests and the rights of Indigenous people and local communities, destabilise business preparedness, investor confidence and market predictability and squander hundreds of millions already committed to EUDR compliance and traceability systems.”
“Only a robust, ambitious and legally-sound EUDR — free of loopholes, exclusions and political expedience — can honour Europe’s environmental and climate responsibilities and safeguard the future of our planet’s forests, which we all depend on.”
For more information or to arrange an interview please contact:
Carole Mitchell, Global Director of Communications (London)
+44 7917 105000
Isabel Fernández Cruz, Senior Adviser (Madrid)
+34 675 510 933
About Mighty Earth
Mighty Earth is a global advocacy organization working to defend a living planet. Our team has achieved transformative change by persuading leading industries to dramatically reduce deforestation and climate pollution throughout their global supply chains in palm oil, rubber, cocoa, and animal feed, while improving livelihoods for Indigenous and local communities across the tropics. www.mightyearth.org
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