GLOBAL WITNESS ANALYSIS: UK FOREST FOOTPRINT OPTIONS PAPER

Global Witness argues that the UK government's proposed options for regulating forest-risk commodities are insufficient to meet the scale of the challenge. The analysis estimates that even under the most optimistic government scenarios, the UK would still contribute between 90,000 and 125,000 hectares of deforestation risk by 2030. Global Witness proposes an alternative approach—regulating at least five to six key commodities within 12 months—which could reduce the deforestation footprint to between 48,774 and 66,745 hectares.

• Without any regulatory action, the UK's consumption of key commodities—including cattle and buffalo products, palm oil, soy, rubber, cocoa, coffee, and maize—would expose it to 162,584 hectares of deforestation risk between the present and the end of 2030.
• Under the government's Option 1 (regulating two commodities within 18-24 months), the UK would still contribute over 100,000 hectares of deforestation risk by 2030 in agricultural consumption, rising to over 120,000 hectares if beef is not regulated.
• The most optimistic application of Option 2 (regulating 3-4 commodities within 3-4 years) would result in the UK contributing approximately or above 100,000 hectares of deforestation risk by 2030, potentially reaching 125,000 hectares if beef is excluded.
• Under Option 3 (regulating 5-7 commodities within 4-5 years), the UK's contribution to deforestation risk by 2030 would range from over 90,000 hectares in the most optimistic scenario to over 110,000 hectares in a less optimistic scenario with fewer commodities and a longer timeline.
• Global Witness proposes an alternative based on EU and US (FOREST Act) timelines, suggesting that regulating eight commodities within 12 months could reduce UK deforestation exposure to 48,774 hectares, or 66,745 hectares if six commodities (beef, leather, palm oil, soy, cocoa, and rubber) are regulated within 12 months.
• The analysis criticizes the government's Impact Assessment for using outdated mean values from 2013-2017 rather than 2017 data, failing to account for trends in annual deforestation footprint increases, and ignoring the portion of deforestation that is legal.

APA

Global Witness (2022). GLOBAL WITNESS ANALYSIS: UK FOREST FOOTPRINT OPTIONS PAPER. https://globalwitness.org/documents/111/Global_Witness_Analysis_-_UK_Forest_footprint_options_paper_-_March_2022.pdf

Chicago

Global Witness. GLOBAL WITNESS ANALYSIS: UK FOREST FOOTPRINT OPTIONS PAPER. 2022. https://globalwitness.org/documents/111/Global_Witness_Analysis_-_UK_Forest_footprint_options_paper_-_March_2022.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=Global Witness |title=GLOBAL WITNESS ANALYSIS: UK FOREST FOOTPRINT OPTIONS PAPER |date=March 2022 |url=https://globalwitness.org/documents/111/Global_Witness_Analysis_-_UK_Forest_footprint_options_paper_-_March_2022.pdf |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{globalwitness2022global, author = {{Global Witness}}, title = {{GLOBAL WITNESS ANALYSIS: UK FOREST FOOTPRINT OPTIONS PAPER}}, institution = {Global Witness}, year = {2022}, month = mar, url = {https://globalwitness.org/documents/111/Global_Witness_Analysis_-_UK_Forest_footprint_options_paper_-_March_2022.pdf}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }