The European Union plans to ban the import of products linked to deforestation.

Strict checks will be implemented to ensure forests weren't damaged to create goods and fines will be imposed on those who cannot prove their products are not linked to deforestation.

The new law is expected to help stop a significant share of global deforestation and forest degradation, in turn reducing greenhouse gas emissions and biodiversity loss. For placing the relevant products on the EU market or exporting them, operators and traders will have to prove that the products are both deforestation-free (produced on land that was not subject to deforestation after December 31, 2020) and legal (compliant with all relevant applicable laws in force in the country of production).

Companies will also be required to collect precise geographical information on the farmland where the commodities that they source have been grown, so that these commodities can be checked for compliance. Member states will be asked to make sure that not complying with the rules leads to effective and dissuasive penalties.

About 420 million hectares of forest — an area larger than the European Union — were lost to deforestation between 1990 and 2020. Scientists and environmentalists have long linked forest degradation to climate change and biodiversity loss.