Why Rubber Must be Kept in the EU’s Anti-Deforestation Law

Mighty Earth argues that the European Commission's decision to exclude natural rubber from its proposed anti-deforestation law is based on an incomplete dataset that ignores processed rubber imports. The briefing highlights that rubber expansion has caused millions of hectares of forest loss in Southeast Asia and Africa, and warns that a projected 33% increase in global demand by 2030 will further drive biodiversity loss and carbon emissions.

• The European Commission's Impact Assessment excluded natural rubber from the proposed anti-deforestation law, concluding that its inclusion would require a "very large effort, with little return in terms of curbing deforestation driven by EU consumption."
• Mighty Earth contends that the data used by the European Commission is flawed because it only accounts for unprocessed natural rubber imports, omitting processed rubber tires and other products. This means approximately two-thirds of all natural rubber imports into the EU may be missing from the assessment.
• Rubber expansion has caused significant tropical forest loss; between 2003 and 2017, over five million hectares were cleared in mainland Southeast Asia and sub-Saharan Africa. In Cambodia specifically, rubber replaced over half a million hectares of tropical forest between 2001 and 2015, representing 23% of the country's gross forest loss.
• Global demand for natural rubber is forecast by the International Rubber Study Group (IRSG) to increase by 33% by 2030, rising from 12.7 million tonnes in 2020 to 16.9 million tonnes.
• Increased rubber demand is predicted to cause catastrophic biodiversity loss and carbon emissions. Conversion of intact dense forest to rubber is estimated to generate carbon losses of 141.5 tC per ha, while open forest losses are 51.5 tC per ha.
• The EU's rubber land footprint is substantial, with an estimated 594,000 hectares required annually for tire use, representing 5% of the global harvested area. This footprint is primarily located in Indonesia (32%), Thailand (23%), Malaysia (11%), Cote d’Ivoire (10%), and China (10%).
• Africa is identified as a potential new deforestation frontier for rubber, as the EU seeks to reduce its dependence on Southeast Asia. Currently, approximately 25% of natural rubber imported into Europe originates from Africa.

APA

Jones, S. (2021). Why Rubber Must be Kept in the EU’s Anti-Deforestation Law. Mighty Earth. https://mightyearth.org/article/why-natural-rubber-must-be-kept-in-the-eus-anti-deforestation-law/

Chicago

Jones, Sydney. Why Rubber Must be Kept in the EU’s Anti-Deforestation Law. Mighty Earth, 2021. https://mightyearth.org/article/why-natural-rubber-must-be-kept-in-the-eus-anti-deforestation-law/.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Jones |first1=Sydney |title=Why Rubber Must be Kept in the EU’s Anti-Deforestation Law |publisher=Mighty Earth |date=25 October 2021 |url=https://mightyearth.org/article/why-natural-rubber-must-be-kept-in-the-eus-anti-deforestation-law/ |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{jones2021why, author = {Jones, Sydney}, title = {{Why Rubber Must be Kept in the EU’s Anti-Deforestation Law}}, institution = {Mighty Earth}, year = {2021}, month = oct, url = {https://mightyearth.org/article/why-natural-rubber-must-be-kept-in-the-eus-anti-deforestation-law/}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }