Today the Environmental Audit Committee (EAC), which I am a member of, has urged the Government to act with urgency to tackle global deforestation.

The EAC’s report on the UK’s contribution to tackling global deforestation, states that the intensity of the UK’s consumption on the world’s forests is higher than that of China, and calls on Ministers to develop a Global Footprint Indicator to demonstrate this impact to the public.

The Committee also recommends that the Government strengthens the existing legislative framework so as to prohibit financial sector businesses from trading or using commodities linked to deforestation.

Environmental Audit Committee Chair, Rt Hon Philip Dunne MP, said: 

“UK consumption is having an unsustainable impact on the planet at the current rate. UK markets must not be flooded with products that threaten the world’s forests, the people whose livelihoods rely on them and the precious ecosystems that call them home. Yet despite the recent commitment before and at COP28 to invest more in reforestation measures and The Amazon Fund to help halt the speed of global deforestation, the UK needs to take tangible steps to turn the dial at home.”

Read the full report on the UK’s contribution to tackling global deforestation here.