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EU Removes Leather From Anti-Deforestation Law After Industry Pressure
The commission said skins and hides do not drive cattle expansion, while the review proposed only limited other changes to the law.
On Monday, the Commission published a regulatory review excluding leather from the European anti-deforestation law while adding instant coffee and palm oil derivatives to the scope.
Brussels defied heavy lobbying from the Trump administration, which pushed for a 'no-risk' category granting firms a blanket exemption from the anti-deforestation regulations.
Officials concluded that hide and skin production does not incentivize cattle farming driving forest destruction, justifying the leather exclusion from the regulation's scope.
Coffee industry giants including JDE Peet and Tchibo formed the Coffee Canopy Partnership, utilizing Airbus satellite imagery to map growing regions across Ethiopia, Tanzania, Kenya, Uganda, Burundi, and Rwanda.
Anke Schulmeister Oldenhove of the NGO WWF expressed relief that limited changes avoided a broader rewrite, though she stressed that "decisive implementation, clear enforcement" remains essential.