Earlier this year, the Commission published its Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence proposal, setting new rules for companies importing certain commodities, including palm oil, soy and coffee, into the EU. The objective is to tighten rules around commodities that are accused of links to deforestation.

The proposal will now be taken up by my colleagues in the European Parliament. As usual, hundreds of amendments will be tabled by dozens of MEPs – each with his or her own ideas about how best to make the Due Diligence system work.

There is a better way. A new Due Diligence system has been introduced just across the English Channel, and it shows a better way forward for the EU. The U.K.’s currently political and economic turmoil offers a model that no-one on the continent would wish to follow right now – but its Due Diligence system, introduced in 2021, should be studied very closely.

The primary benefit, when compared with the Commission proposal, is that the UK bases its system on a legality standard. In essence, this sets the objective of excluding all illegal deforestation from UK supply chains: a worthy goal that the EU also shares. The UK legislation, though, works in cooperation with partner countries by using local laws and regulations in exporting countries, as the basis for the legality standard. If it can be proven to be legally-produced locally, then the UK is …