Combatting deforestation through trade: The EU's unilateral and regional approaches

Abstract Global deforestation, primarily driven by agricultural expansion, exacerbates climate change and biodiversity decline, prompting concerted international efforts to combat it. As a major destination for key deforestation‐linked commodities and their derived products, the EU has significantly contributed to forest loss worldwide. In response, the EU's Deforestation Regulation, adopted in 2023, and its renewable energy regime concerning biofuels aim to ensure the sustainability of supply chains and reduce the EU's deforestation footprint. This unilateral framework, affecting imports and domestic sales, is subject to World Trade Organization (WTO) scrutiny. In parallel, the EU's regional trade agreements (RTAs) increasingly incorporate forest‐ and climate‐related commitments. Through a primarily doctrinal lens, this article examines such a dual‐track policy in light of recent WTO rulings in EU—Palm Oil and new developments in the EU's RTA practice, including under the EU–Mercosur agreement, concerning environmental sustainability. The article argues that, while the WTO legal system permits a risk‐based anti‐deforestation approach in principle, the EU's policy should be implemented with sufficient flexibility, meaningful engagement with partner countries and stronger coordination between the unilateral and regional tracks to ensure its trade‐law consistency and improve its environmental effectiveness.