
© Fotolia | great divide Photo
© Fotolia | great divide Photo
In our new policy brief, we analyse along with Climate & Company and Rechtsanwälte Günther why sustainability due diligence obligations for financial institutions are key to achieving the EU's climate goals. As an example for this tool, we draw on due diligence obligations for financial institutions to avoid financing projects that cause deforestation. In addition, the policy brief presents specific recommendations for regulating financial actors through the EU Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive (CSDDD).
In our new briefing, Germanwatch and the sustainable finance think tank Climate & Company analyse the expected reporting and due diligence obligations in the financial sector across a number of key EU regulatory measures on sustainability. In particular, the briefing focuses on potential obligations resulting from the respective regulatory measures that may help to identify and minimise the risk of deforestation.
The EU Commission announced the successful conclusion of negotiations on a regulation for deforestation-free products. Companies will therefore soon have to prove that no forest is cleared for the production of certain agricultural goods and wood products. An important step – but the law also has weaknesses. Germanwatch presents an initial assessment.
The expansion of agricultural land for the production of animal feed or palm oil is the biggest driver of loss and degradation of forests and other natural ecosystems worldwide. The EU’s demand for these so-called forest and ecosystem risk commodities plays a significant part in global deforestation linked to international trade.
From 28 February to 2 March, the United Nations Environment Programme will host the next Environment Assembly. In a joint statement today, more than 150 organisations from all continents, including Germanwatch, call for sustainable food systems to be a core issue of the Assembly, with a particular focus on animal husbandry.
On 14 October 2021, Alejandro Brown, president of Fundación Proyungas from the Gran Chaco, researchers Laura Kehoe (University of Oxford) and Alfredo Romero Muñoz (Humboldt University Berlin) as well as policy advisor Barbara Hermann (Climate Focus) highlighted the impacts of deforestation in the Gran Chaco through international trade and the difficulties of a zero-deforestation approach. They warned that the Gran Chaco is in a very critical state and further deforestation could lead to the total destruction of the ecosystems.