The European Parliament has once again backed a one-year delay to landmark anti-deforestation rules, in a vote pushed through by an alliance of centre-right and far-right lawmakers. It comes on the heels of the lacklustre deal made at the COP30 climate summit in Brazil, which saw an absence of consensus on phasing out fossil fuels.

Already delayed by a year, the rollout of the landmark law banning imports of products driving deforestation will now be postponed to the end of 2026, under plans already backed by EU member states and endorsed by a majority of 402 to 250 lawmakers.

Parliament also backed a review of the legislation early next year - before it even comes into force - under a proposal endorsed by the conservative EPP and the far-right bloc, as well as part of the centrist group.

Adopted in 2023, the deforestation law, known as EUDR, was hailed by green groups as a major breakthrough in the fight to protect nature and combat climate change.

The law bans goods produced using land deforested after December 2020, with at-risk items including anything from coffee to cocoa, soy, timber, palm oil, cattle, printing paper and rubber.

But it has faced stiff opposition from trading partners including Brazil and the United States, as well as some EU capitals, who argue businesses will suffer from more red tape and increased costs.

'Empty promises'

The World Wildlife Fund said the further delay, blamed on "IT problems" revealed the EU's "empty promises" to the environment.

Since the EUDR was postponed in 2024, over 23 million trees have been lost forever, it points out.

"The approach adopted today represents a complete withdrawal from responsibility towards future generations, who will bear the cost of delayed action," Anke Schulmeister-Oldenhove, Policy Manager for Forests at WWF European Policy Office said in a statement on Wednesday.

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While EU policy-makers just returned from the COP30 climate summit in Belém, where they reasserted their commitment to address the escalating climate crisis, this deforestation law delay seems like a major step backwards, WWF said.

"The EU seems to be under the dangerous impression that there is still time to act. The destruction of the Amazon and other critical ecosystems is already undermining Europe's climate stability, economic resilience and biodiversity, even if the damage is not yet fully visible."

Slashing red tape

The vote marked the second time this month the EPP has drawn on far-right support to back weakening the bloc's environmental and human rights rules - as part of a business-friendly drive to slash red tape.

Two weeks ago, parliament backed amending the EU's legislation on corporate sustainability, a law approved only last year that was hailed by green and civil society groups but loathed by firms.

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Environmental campaign group Fern said Wednesday's vote was evidence that the EU's will to tackle "the stain of deforestation" in its supply chains has "crumbled".

"The endless carousel of attempts to revise and even destroy a law that was passed with a large democratic mandate two years ago, are a farce," the group charged.

Parliament and member states need to hold a final round of negotiations before the adoption of the deforestation delay - but the result is now a foregone conclusion.