Addressing the UK’s outsized contribution to global deforestation must be a priority for the newly elected British government

Global Witness calls on the new UK government to address its role in global deforestation by making the 2030 target to halt biodiversity loss legally binding, expanding import laws to cover all deforestation regardless of legality, and stopping financial institutions from funding deforesting companies.

• Global Witness proposes a three-step plan for a deforestation-free UK economy: making the 2030 target to halt and reverse deforestation and biodiversity loss legally binding, removing deforestation-linked imports from supermarkets, and ending the funding of deforesting companies by British banks.
• The UK's delay in implementing Schedule 17 of the 2021 Environment Act has contributed to forest loss nearly twice the size of Paris, allowing deforestation-linked beef, palm oil, and chocolate to enter the UK market.
• Global Witness and the Environmental Audit Committee argue that UK law should cover all deforestation, not just illegal deforestation, because satellite data can identify forest loss more easily than proving illegality, as seen in Bolivia where 74% of agricultural deforestation is likely illegal.
• The UK financial sector is a major contributor to global deforestation, with banks and asset managers providing approximately $16.6 billion to some of the world's worst deforesting companies between 2016 and 2020, making the UK the third largest investor after China and the US.
• Nature loss linked to deforestation is estimated to potentially cause a 12% decrease in the UK's GDP, an impact described as larger than that of COVID-19 or the global financial crisis.

APA

Global Witness (n.d.). Addressing the UK’s outsized contribution to global deforestation must be a priority for the newly elected British government. https://globalwitness.org/en/campaigns/forests/deforestation-free-economy-key-to-labours-nature-ambitions/

Chicago

Global Witness. Addressing the UK’s outsized contribution to global deforestation must be a priority for the newly elected British government. n.d. https://globalwitness.org/en/campaigns/forests/deforestation-free-economy-key-to-labours-nature-ambitions/.

Wikipedia

{{cite press release |author=Global Witness |title=Addressing the UK’s outsized contribution to global deforestation must be a priority for the newly elected British government |url=https://globalwitness.org/en/campaigns/forests/deforestation-free-economy-key-to-labours-nature-ambitions/ |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@misc{globalwitnessndaddressing, author = {{Global Witness}}, title = {{Addressing the UK’s outsized contribution to global deforestation must be a priority for the newly elected British government}}, publisher = {Global Witness}, url = {https://globalwitness.org/en/campaigns/forests/deforestation-free-economy-key-to-labours-nature-ambitions/}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }