The UK needs to finish developing an environmental footprint indicator to help demonstrate how it is tackling distressing deforestation levels, a group of UK politicians has said.

The government should finalise the footprint indicator, first recommended at least three years ago, so it can set targets for reducing the UK’s deforestation based on the metric, the Environmental Audit Committee (EAC) said in a report.

The UK’s consumption of products is “unsustainable”, with its appetite for forest-intensive products like soy, cocoa, palm oil, and beef putting “enormous pressure on forests”, the cross-party MP committee said.

The national footprint for deforestation per tonne of assessed commodities was worse than China’s, the committee heard. “This figure ought to alarm ministers.”

Between 2014 and 2018, the UK deforestation rate was 0.3 hectares per 1,000 tonnes, while China’s equivalent figure was 0.2 over the period, Chris West, senior research fellow at the University of York said in evidence heard by the committee.

While the UK is a “relatively small contributor on global terms” to absolute deforestation, there is an “unequivocal link between UK value chains and global deforestation”, West said.

The country has one of the worst deforestation records of the 10 European countries that signed the Amsterdam Declarations Partnership on deforestation.

IMPROVE THE DATA

Conservative MP Philip Dunne, EAC chair, said the deforestation rate findings should “serve as a wake-up call to the government”.

EAC’s recommendation on the indicator reiterated a statement from a report it published in 2021. The government responded in early 2022 to this report by expressing concerns with the availability of robust data.

“It therefore confirmed – at the time – that it would not set a target until it can be certain that it would be supported by a robust evidence base,” Dunne told Carbon Pulse.

“The EAC found this response disappointing, and is why we are now urging ministers to work with international partners to improve the data available so we can readily monitor and set targets to reducing the impact we have on deforestation.”

THE INDICATOR

The government has funded a ‘Global Environmental Impacts of Consumption’ indicator that aims to provide a holistic view of environmental pressures exerted overseas by the UK.

The indicator has been developed by West’s Stockholm Environment Institute at the University of York, in collaboration with the Joint Nature Conservation Committee and the Trase and Trade Hub of the government’s Global Commodity Research Fund.

The measurement is not yet available, but interim results show UK impact on tropical deforestation, blue water use, and regional species loss between 2005 and 2018.

For example, in 2018, UK consumption of crop, cattle, and timber-related products caused tropical deforestation of more than 35,000 ha.

“Understanding which forest risk commodities are contributing to deforestation, and on what scale, is essential for the UK and other nations to introduce effective legislation and policies,” EAC said in the latest report.

A target based on a global footprint indicator would only be meaningful if sufficient monitoring and reporting is embedded for forest risks, the EAC said.

CALL FOR CLARITY

The government should promote international and domestic data disclosure on forest risks, the committee said. Disclosure on metrics on issues including forests is ramping up, with the Taskforce on Nature-related Financial Disclosures (TNFD) launching its final recommendations in September, but global action so far has been relatively small-scale.

The UK has earmarked £1.5 billion for tackling deforestation but EAC heard concerns about a lack of transparency over how this investment will be spent.

“The EAC is calling for clarity from ministers as to how the money will be used to support activities to halt and reverse deforestation,” the committee said.

The committee heard from non-profit Global Witness that “one person is killed every other day defending land and the environment”. Ensuring Indigenous Peoples are included in negotiations to address deforestation is “critical”, it said.

The most prominent report finding was the need for the government to demonstrate “some urgency” in turning its rhetoric on tackling deforestation into action, Dunne said.

“This will be through putting in place the full legislative due diligence framework to provide assurance that certain products to be sold in UK markets are from sustainable sources, amending that framework to bring all damaging deforestation activity in scope, and being transparent on where the vast sums committed to tackling deforestation go,” he said.

The government’s intention to introduce sustainability labelling for products would be encouraging if the policy applies to deforestation risk, he said.

GOVERNMENT RESPONSE

In response to the EAC report, a government spokesperson said it was continuing to develop its environmental footprint indicator.

“The UK is leading the way globally with new legislation to tackle illegal deforestation to make sure we rid UK supply chains of products contributing to the destruction of these vital habitats.”

“This legislation has already been introduced through the Environment Act and is just one of many measures to halt and reverse global forest loss,” the spokesperson said.

“We are also investing in significant international programmes to restore forests, which have avoided over 410,000 ha of deforestation to date alongside supporting new green finance streams.”

By Thomas Cox – t.cox@carbon-pulse.com

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