EU, impede deforestation linked to hydropower production, now
European Commission, president Ursula von der Leyen
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Petition
The European Commission should add electrical energy to the list of products which are forbidden on the Union market and the export if are associated with deforestation.
Why is this important?
Further increase in deforestation is completely intolerable, no matter which kind of business constitutes the pretext. For instance, deforestation to make room for hydropower reservoirs.
This practice does not only exterminate the native biodiversity, destroying the ecosystems which used to store carbon but also leads to large emissions and substantial loss of water by evaporation: It is estimated that the evaporative water loss in hydropower reservoirs is equivalent to 20% of the global annual consumption of water use. [1] Knowing the current trend of increasing intensity and duration of droughts in Europe, can we really afford to lose our forests and therefore our water?
With this petition, we call for the inclusion of deforestation for energy production in the EU’s list of prohibited activities under the regulation on commodities and products associated with deforestation. [2] This regulation, primarily intended to target deforestation outside the EU, is incomplete and ineffective if EU governments are allowed to promote illegal deforestation.
A glaring example is the Răstolița dam project in Romania, which threatens to destroy a protected area within Călimani National Park for minimal energy production. This deforestation risks the extinction of Romania’s only viable huchen population, a unique and endangered freshwater species. [3] The European Commission, contradicting its own prior guidance document, closed the complaint no. CPLT(2023)01366, complaint including the Răstolița case. [4]
Encouraged by the complicity of the European Commission, Hidroelectrica Company resumed this summer the illegal works at the dam project during the environmental impact assessment, without waiting for the environmental permit to be issued - which is completely illegal, and none of the abusive ministers in charge moved a single finger against it.
But now the European Commission has the chance to make up for past mistakes.
According to their own legislation, the European Commission is required to review the Regulation on Deforestation by June 2025 and assess the need to extend its scope to additional commodities and products. We urge the Commission to include the production of electrical energy in this review.
Energy can be produced sustainably and profitably without resorting to new deforestation. Expanding the regulation’s scope is crucial to ensuring that deforestation for energy production is addressed and prevented.
Will you help us save not only this forest from destruction but all the rest as well?
Sign the petition, join the fight!