EU Natural Capital & Biodiversity Domain

The EU Deforestation Regulation (EUDR, Regulation (EU) 2023/1115) is a supply chain access regulation aimed at curbing global deforestation and forest degradation. It effectively prohibits placing specified commodities on the EU market — or exporting them from the EU — unless companies can rigorously trace and prove, through due diligence, that the products are "deforestation-free" and were produced in compliance with the laws of the country of production. The regulation rests on four main pillars. First, a due diligence system requiring operators to confirm deforestation-free status through a three-step audit process (information gathering, risk assessment, and risk mitigation), along with mandatory tracking of geolocation (GPS coordinates) and production-date data. Second, a defined scope of covered commodities: seven major commodities — cattle, wood, cocoa, coffee, palm oil, soy, and rubber — along with derived products such as leather goods, paper and cardboard, and chocolate. Third, a market surveillance and enforcement regime built around the TRACES international trade system, requiring advance registration of due diligence statements (DDS), integration with customs procedures, and steep penalties for non-compliance (a minimum of 4% of EU-wide turnover, among other measures). Fourth, an application timeline that has been officially pushed back in stages in response to implementation readiness concerns and pushback from member states. The regulation is also linked to related EU frameworks, including land use and forestry carbon sink management (LULUCF), packaging and value-chain traceability design (ESPR), and supply chain decarbonization and environmental due diligence (CBAM).

The EU Nature Restoration Law (Regulation (EU) 2024/1991) is a landmark regulation designed to restore degraded terrestrial, marine, coastal, freshwater, and urban ecosystems across the EU on a long-term, sustainable basis, halt biodiversity loss, and strongly support the EU's climate adaptation and mitigation goals. As a central pillar of the European Green Deal and the EU Biodiversity Strategy for 2030, it received final approval from the Council of the EU on June 17, 2024, was published in the Official Journal on July 29, 2024, and entered into force on August 18, 2024. It is the first legally binding, comprehensive EU-wide law on nature restoration. The regulation requires member states to implement restoration measures across at least 20% of the EU's land and sea area by 2030, extending measures to all ecosystems in need of restoration by 2050. Specific targets include restoring the condition of degraded habitats — such as forests, grasslands, wetlands, and rivers — by 30% by 2030, 60% by 2040, and 90% by 2050. Additional targets cover maintaining and expanding urban green space and tree canopy cover, reversing the decline in pollinator populations (such as bees and butterflies), and restoring at least 25,000 kilometers of rivers to a free-flowing, barrier-free state by 2030. Each member state is required to draft and submit a National Restoration Plan detailing concrete measures within two years of the regulation's entry into force.