08 July 2025

Press Release

For immediate release

British supermarkets call for urgent action to remove deforestation in UK supply chains

Retailers in “limbo” as deforestation presents increasing risk to their supply chain stability and food security
UK could suffer more than £5.3 billion in export losses to EU if government inaction leaves them unprepared for regulation
Co-op, Morrisons and Tesco urge government to enact due diligence law to help end deforestation, and work with effective EU regulations to act on risks across borders

British supermarkets have issued an open letter calling on the government to urgently remove deforestation from UK supply chains and ensure ‘frictionless’ trade can continue with the European Union, ahead of a Lords debate tomorrow (Tuesday 8 July).

The call – from some of the UK’s largest supermarkets – reflects the overwhelming public support for swift action on deforestation, with recent WWF-UK and Global Witnesspolling finding more than two-thirds (70%) of Britons back the implementation of a law requiring companies to check their supply chains and take responsibility for destructive farming impacts in other countries.

The supermarkets describe UK businesses as being left in “limbo”, unable to respond to the challenges of European market access, climate change mitigation and food security. They cite the recent spike in prices of cocoa following a drought in West Africa and significantly reduced UK wheat yields due to heavy rain as examples of threats to food security due to climate change.

Back in 2021, the Environment Act was passed in the UK yet successive governments have failed to create a due diligence regime for commodities known to be linked to deforestation overseas – such as beef and cattle products, palm oil, soybeans, cocoa and coffee – which would ban the importation and sale of food grown on illegally deforested land.

With the European Union Deforestation Regulation (EUDR) coming into force this December, British supermarkets are facing rising costs due to a lack of government support for regulations and uncertainty about export requirements. Government inaction could cost the UK economy over £5.3billion in lost exports to the EU, hitting the UK’s beef and dairy industries hard.

Ending global deforestation is also critical to secure long-term, resilient food supply chains. Deforestation can disrupt rainfall patterns and damage vital ecosystem services that producers rely on.

The supermarkets – including Sainsbury's, Morrisons and Tesco – have signed an open letter calling on the Government to urgently:

Adopt secondary legislation to implement the Environment Act, aligned, as much as possible, with the scope, requirements and definitions of the European Union Deforestation Regulation.
Recognise European Due Diligence Statements as being credible evidence of due diligence without requiring further documentation or action.
Ensure supply chain transparency is required within British supply chains after the point of import to enable companies to exercise due diligence and have the information necessary to export products to Europe.

Nicola Brennan, conversion-free supply chain specialist at WWF-UK, said:

“While the Government has committed to making Britain a clean energy superpower and increasing domestic energy security, it is yet to support the market in eliminating arguably the most easily removable economic contribution of emissions.

“Ending global deforestation and conversion of natural ecosystems is essential to stopping climate change, halting biodiversity loss, and ensuring the long-term security and sustainability of the UK’s food and soft commodity supply as well as providing the biggest gains in climate mitigation.

“Forests are home to 80% of the Earth’s terrestrial biodiversity – there is simply no way we can fight the climate crisis and species extinction if we don’t stop deforestation.”

Will Schreiber, Representative of the Retail Soy Group and 3Keel Director, said:

"Being able to prove that British products have not contributed to global deforestation is critical if we are going to be able to continue growing and trading with our largest trading partner.

“This is one of the few pieces of legislation that makes sense across the board if the Government moves forward and implements the secondary legislation we've been calling out for in a thoughtful way."

ENDS

Notes to Editors:

Currently, British companies have no legal duty to check whether commodities and products they import have been produced on illegally deforested land. This means that products on UK supermarket shelves may be linked to illegal deforestation in places such as the Amazon, West Africa and Indonesia, with both retailers or consumers in the dark. Meanwhile, recent research from Global Witness shows that UK imports of commodities like soy, beef, cocoa and palm oil contributed to the destruction of an area of forest overseas comparable in size to Cardiff, Liverpool, or Newcastle in just the past year.
Since the Environment Act became law, the UK’s total imported deforestation footprint has exceeded 39,300 hectares— an area larger than the UK’s New Forest.

About the Retail Soy Group:

The Retail Soy Group (RSG) was formed in 2013 to address a sector- widegap in meeting demand for sustainably produced soya. It is an independent

group of international retailers working collaboratively in a pre-competitive

space, to find industry- wide solutions for soy for their animal feed and

human food supply chains.