Institutional investor initiative the Investor Policy Dialogue on Deforestation (IPDD) has called on the European Parliament to reject the European Commission’s proposed one-year delay to the EU Deforestation Regulation (EUDR). While the IPDD acknowledged that new legislation is “always disruptive” and can trigger some “unintended consequences”, it stressed that the EUDR is an “important development whose introduction should not be delayed”. Last month, the council agreed to postpone the application of the EUDR by 12 months, meaning it will apply to large operators and traders from 30 December 2025 and micro and small enterprises from 30 June 2026. The European People’s Party has also proposed amendments to weaken the EUDR, including pushing back the application of the rules by a further year to December 2026. IPDD argued that it sees “no justification” for a delay of more than a year, which risks further disadvantage to countries and companies that have already prepared to adhere to the new requirements. “We are particularly concerned by recent suggested amendments that would extend the delay in the EUDR’s introduction and undermine the content of the legislation, in particular traders exempted from the EUDR’s requirements, since they are key participants in the supply chains that need to be monitored,” said Jan Erik Saugestad, CEO at Storebrand Asset Management. Initiated and established by Storebrand in 2020, the IPDD is backed by 82 financial institutions across 21 countries collectively representing US$11 trillion in AUM.
