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The EU deforestation law and its goals<\/p>\n
The European Union Deforestation Regulation (or \u201cEUDR\u201d) will require companies<\/a> that place or import products driving deforestation \u2013 such as leather from cattle farms \u2013 onto the EU market to prove these products are legally produced and deforestation-free. Companies were initially given 18 months to prepare.<\/p>\n Now campaigners are fearful for the law\u2019s future and integrity, with the regulation already delayed by two years<\/a>.<\/p>\n Reports from inside the EU suggest the Commission may propose that hides used by the leather industry be removed from its scope entirely, despite cattle products including leather representing<\/a> more than 13% of the bloc\u2019s deforestation footprint.<\/p>\n Leather is beloved by the fashion industry, which it uses to manufacture high-end products like bags and shoes. Getty Images<\/p>\n Global Witness can now reveal the extent of the lobbying by groups with strong ties to LVMH, exposing how Fabrizio Nuti \u2013 the head of LVMH subsidiary Nuti Ivo, a group of Tuscan tanneries \u2013 has worked systematically to discredit the law within EU institutions and Italy, as well as lobbying the Paraguayan President Santiago Pe\u00f1a.<\/p>\n Our investigators found Mr Nuti has used his leadership roles in EU tannery unions to persuade the EU Commission to delay and weaken the EUDR \u2013 all while a Paraguay tannery he owns separately from Nuti Ivo is at high risk of purchasing hides from farms that have deforested large areas of Paraguay\u2019s biodiverse and threatened Gran Chaco<\/a>.<\/p>\n Nuti owns Paraguayan tannery Lecom\/Parpelli, which purchases hides from companies Minerva Foods and Frigor\u00edfico Concepci\u00f3n. Global Witness has previously exposed<\/a> these major players in the global cattle sector as sourcing from farms responsible for deforestation on land overlapping the territory of the Indigenous Ayoreo Totobiegosode.<\/p>\n If Nuti\u2019s lobbying succeeds in removing leather from the law, it would mean products from his Paraguayan tannery sourced from deforested areas or Ayoreo Totobiegosode lands could continue to be sold in the EU.<\/p>\n \u201cI believe that people who run businesses that want to destroy environmental laws should think of the Indigenous communities who live among nature every day,\u201d says Ayoreo leader Guede, who grew up in the area where cattle farms are moving in to clear forest.<\/p>\n Trade data shows Lecom\/Parpelli continues to supply Nuti Ivo\u2019s Italian tanneries despite Nuti Ivo\u2019s claim that they stopped sourcing from Paraguay in 2024.<\/p>\n Hides are hung to dry in an Italian tannery. Italy has the largest tannery industry in the EU. Romano Cagnoni \/ Getty Images<\/p>\n Previous Global Witness analysis has suggested that the EUDR could save forests the size of Austria<\/a> in its first 10 years. A robust EU zero-deforestation law that includes leather is vital for the Gran Chaco\u2019s future.<\/p>\n Paraguay has exported 400 million kilogrammes of raw and semi-processed hides to Italy since 2018, worth $266 million \u2013 showing a clear motive for the leather industry to maintain business as usual.<\/p>\n \u201cThe challenge is difficult, but we will not give up\u201d: How industry associations with links to LVMH are fighting to remove leather from the EUDR<\/p>\n Fabrizio Nuti is the President of Tuscan tannery group Nuti Ivo. Luxury goods house LVMH took a controlling stake in the company in 2023.<\/p>\n Mr Nuti is also the President of the Italian tannery association UNIC as well as Vice President of pan-European leather association COTANCE.<\/p>\n Nuti said in February 2026 that the EUDR represented \u201ca very serious problem for our industry\u201d and that he was \u201cfighting\u201d against it \u2013 saying \u201cthe challenge is difficult, but we will not give up.\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n Global Witness\u2019s analysis of lobbying registers demonstrates how intense UNIC and COTANCE\u2019s lobbying efforts have been within the EU institutions since the introduction of the EUDR in Parliament in 2021.<\/p>\n According to EU Transparency Register disclosures, UNIC and COTANCE have spent a combined \u20ac1.5 million on lobbying activities inside the EU in the last five years. Although records do not disaggregate on which topics this money was spent, the EUDR was clearly a focus of their lobbying efforts.<\/p>\n We found 16 meetings between UNIC or COTANCE that explicitly refer to the EUDR, deforestation, simplification or leather in the declared meeting title since 2021. Most of these meetings took place in 2025, when calls from members of the Commission to gut the EUDR increased.<\/p>\n UNIC and COTANCE have petitioned Italian MEPS in the European Parliament, holding several meetings and events with far-right Italian MEPs Elena Donnazzan and Roberto Vannacci.<\/p>\n UNIC subsequently hosted an event at the European Parliament called \u201cLeather is a driver of deforestation? Let\u2019s take the facts to the European parliament\u201d, attended by Salvatore di Meo<\/a> from the right-wing Forza Italia party.<\/p>\n UNIC and COTANCE also provided funding for a study<\/a> that concluded that leather does not drive deforestation.<\/p>\n This study has been a key lobbying tool for UNIC, which presented the study\u2019s findings to the European Parliament.<\/a> Yet other peer-reviewed<\/a> academic studies have drawn a clear link between leather and deforestation. Multiple NGOs, including Global Witness, have already criticised the study as “a flawed, industry-commissioned report.”<\/a><\/p>\n UNIC\u2019s lobbying has not only been confined to the EU. Nuti has met with the pro-agribusiness Paraguayan president Santiago Pena in Rome, quoting him as describing the EUDR as a “burden for operators.”<\/a><\/p>\n Paraguayan President Santiago Pe\u00f1a meeting Von Der Leyen in 2024. Pe\u00f1a has been an outspoken critic of the EUDR. Creative Commons<\/p>\n UNIC has also lobbied the Italian government.<\/p>\n After a meeting with Nuti, Italian Deputy Prime Minister Antonio Tajani wrote<\/a> to EU Commission President Von der Leyen and Trade Commissioner Maro\u0161 \u0160ef\u010dovi\u010d calling for leather\u2019s removal from the EUDR, calling it an \u201cexistential issue\u201d for Italian tanneries.<\/p>\n LVMH and lobbying on the Green Deal in the EU<\/p>\n LVMH categorically denied any lobbying against the EUDR in correspondence with Global Witness.<\/p>\n However, LVMH held a meeting with Italian Socialists and Democrats MEP Dario Nardella in November 2024, one month after UNIC met Nardella to discuss \u201cpriorities in the fashion industry.\u201d<\/p>\n Neither Nardella nor LVMH replied to Global Witness\u2019 request to provide further information on whether the EUDR was discussed in that meeting.<\/p>\n The Tuscan MEP is now a prominent supporter of UNIC\u2019s position to remove leather from the EUDR, introducing Nuti at April 2026 event in the European Parliament as his \u201cdear friend\u201d \u2013 and recording a video calling for EUDR exemptions for tanneries for COTANCE\u2019s social media feeds.<\/p>\n Global Witness also found that LVMH\u2019s lobbyists attended meetings with some of the most powerful actors in the European Commission to discuss \u201csimplification\u201d of the EU\u2019s flagship EU Green Deal in the last two years.<\/p>\n Ursula von der Leyen\u2019s cabinet have heard LVMH requests for simplification. The EU Commissioner has been criticised by civil society for rolling back environmental legislation in the face of right-wing pressure. European Commission \/ Creative Commons<\/p>\n The EU\u2019s Green Deal was a suite of landmark policies \u2013 including the EUDR \u2013 with the ultimate aim of lowering EU emissions by at least 50% by 2030. NGOs say “simplification”<\/a> is shorthand for gutting environmental legislation.<\/p>\n Meeting notes obtained by Global Witness show that one meeting between LVMH and the Commission concluded “LVMH and the Commission share the vision that there is a need for regulatory burden reduction and implementable regulations.”<\/p>\n Our investigators sent multiple requests to the Commission to confirm LVMH has not used these meetings to ask the EU to weaken the EUDR, but did not receive a substantive response.<\/p>\n LVMH did not provide details on what aspect of the EU Green Deal it discussed in these meetings. They also did not reply when our investigators asked whether LVMH supported Nuti\u2019s work through UNIC to weaken the EUDR.<\/p>\n It is legal to lobby the EU Commission or Parliament<\/a> if the meetings are declared.<\/p>\n UNIC did not reply to Global Witness\u2019 request for comment.<\/p>\n COTANCE told Global Witness that many of its meetings in the EU were not related to lobbying on the EUDR, but declined to state which meetings or provide any further detail.<\/p>\n The EU\u2019s green credentials on the line<\/p>\n This heavy lobbying has put pressure on the EUDR, with reliable sources indicating that it is likely that the EU Commission will open a consultation with a proposal to remove hides and other raw materials for leather-making from the EUDR product list.<\/p>\n Global Witness\u2019s EU Senior Campaigner, Beate Beller, says: “As we approach the implementation of the EUDR, it is critical that the products covered remain firmly grounded in scientific evidence and environmental impact, rather than being weakened by carve-outs secured through intense industry pressure.<\/p>\n “Stripping leather from the EUDR would introduce a glaring inconsistency: meat from cattle raised on deforested land would be prohibited, while the hide of that very same animal would still be able circulate the EU market freely.<\/p>\n “Caving to lobbying pressure cracks the gate for more irresponsible businesses to weaken the laws protecting EU citizens, inviting further dilution and steadily eroding the integrity and credibility of EU policy-making.”<\/p>\n Cattle skins are used to make leather and are often grown on deforested lands \u2013 like these in the Gran Chaco. Global Witness<\/p>\n LVMH\u2019s own website openly recognises leather as a driver of deforestation. It stated in a 2024 press release at COP16 that it was planning “zero sourcing”<\/a> from areas at very high risk of deforestation.<\/p>\n It set a zero-deforestation<\/a> target for 2025, yet Nuti\u2019s heavy lobbying appears to be a direct contradiction of LVMH\u2019s stated ambition of “raw materials sourced do not contribute to the degradation of natural forests.”<\/p>\n LVMH\u2019s ties to deforestation<\/p>\n A closer look at Nuti\u2019s business interests show why he is working so hard to gut the law \u2013 and why campaigners say<\/a> any decision to exclude leather from the scope of the law would be an environmental disaster for Paraguay\u2019s remaining forests.<\/p>\n Fabrizio Nuti owns Parpelli, the major brand of tannery Lecom, situated on the outskirts of Asunci\u00f3n, Paraguay\u2019s capital city. The tannery is dependent on purchases of raw hides from the country\u2019s slaughterhouses, including those owned by two major conglomerates, Minerva Foods and Frigor\u00edfico Concepci\u00f3n.<\/p>\n In 2024, Global Witness travelled to Paraguay and showed how both Minerva and Frigor\u00edfico Concepci\u00f3n purchase from cattle farms responsible for 75,000 hectares (ha) of deforestation between 2021-2023, including on lands claimed by the Ayoreo Totobiegosode Indigenous People.<\/p>\n For this report, our investigators used satellite data to update our analysis to explore whether there had been more deforestation on the same farms since 2023.<\/p>\n We found an estimated 36,000 ha of deforestation on these farms since our last report, which added up to 110,000 ha of deforestation in the Chaco on farms selling to Minerva and Frigor\u00edfico Concepci\u00f3n since 2021.<\/p>\n Deforestation on lands overlapping with land claimed by the Totobiegosode has continued, despite the Inter-American Human Rights Commission granting protected status to the area in 2016.<\/p>\n Although Global Witness cannot confirm that hides from cattle reared on these specific farms have been purchased by Lecom\/Parpelli, purchasing hides from these companies exposes them to vast deforestation across the northern Chaco.<\/p>\n Any hides that entered the EU from this land would be illegal under the EUDR from 2027 \u2013 assuming that leather\u2019s raw materials are not removed from the scope of the law.<\/p>\n The area of deforestation for new cattle farms – which Nuti is at high risk of purchasing from – is equivalent to an area larger than the size of Paris.<\/p>\n The total area of deforestation in the Chaco is also likely to be an underestimate. Neither Minerva<\/a> or Frigor\u00edfico Concepci\u00f3n have yet been able to map their indirect supply chain<\/a>, potentially exposing them to more deforestation from farms that sell on to other cattle farms, which in turn supply the slaughterhouses.<\/p>\n Parpelli and the associated hide supplier Lecom have exported high-deforestation risk hides worth $60 million to Italian tanneries since 2018 – which like Parpelli, is headed by Fabrizio Nuti.<\/p>\n COTANCE\u2019s secretariat told Global Witness that since being acquired by LVMH in 2023, Nuti Ivo has a policy not to source hides from Latin America.<\/p>\n Nuti Ivo appears to have removed a section on its website mentioning Parpelli and how the company plays a role in its \u201craw ingredient sourcing strategy\u201d after Global Witness wrote to the company with our allegations.<\/p>\n Italian import data analysed by our investigators also shows that one of Nuti Ivo\u2019s tanneries Conceria Everest imported wet blue hides from Lecom\/Parpelli as recently as December last year.<\/p>\n Cattle ranching \u2013 which provides skins for leathermaking \u2013 is the main driver of deforestation in the Gran Chaco. Global Witness<\/p>\n Nuti Ivo\u2019s supply chain traceability shows major gaps when audited, revealing that the company does not appear to know where most of its hides come from.<\/p>\n Nuti Ivo\u2019s most recent Leather Working Group assessment shows that it can only trace 45% of its<\/a> hides to a specific slaughterhouse \u2013 let alone to individual farms. The specific Nuti Ivo tannery that purchases from Lecom\/Parpelli \u2013 Conceria Everest \u2013 can trace an even smaller percentage<\/a>.<\/p>\n Fabrizio Nuti is also on the record saying that geolocalisation of hides \u2013 or 100% traceability \u2013 is a \u201cnearly impossible task<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n UNIC also led a mission to Paraguay<\/a> in February 2025 to meet with Lecom and Minerva. Leather industry media outlet La Conceria (itself owned by UNIC) reported in its newsletter<\/a> that “it\u2019s certain that there\u2019s still work to be done, and that both Brazil and Paraguay\u2019s supply chains would need more time to be fully compliant with EUDR requirements.”<\/p>\n What the companies said \u2013 and why \u201clegally compliant\u201d sourcing isn\u2019t enough<\/p>\n In reply to Global Witness, Lecom\/Parpelli “reaffirmed their commitment to sourcing from deforestation-free areas” but admitted it was complicated to demonstrate this commitment over large supply chains, as it requires coordination with multiple actors.<\/p>\n Lecom\/Parpelli also told us that they had been in contact with the nonprofit conservation organisation National Wildlife Federation to improve their traceability systems.<\/p>\n NWF told us in March 2026 they began initial conversations with the company \u201ca few weeks ago, to support them in meeting international market requirements and to help regain access to the European market\u201d through traceability, but were not a current client.<\/p>\n Minerva told Global Witness that it “recognizes that the longevity and success of its business depend on the sustainability of the ecosystems that support agricultural production,” highlighting that 100% of the company\u2019s purchases were compliant with the Group\u2019s Sustainability Policy.<\/p>\n Frigor\u00edfico Concepci\u00f3n said the company “maintains a strong commitment to sustainability, due diligence, and transparency throughout its entire supply chain” and denied its operations drive deforestation in Paraguay.<\/p>\n It also reiterated the legality of its cattle sourcing and stated that it does not believe it is sourcing from lands owned by the Ayoreo Totobiegosode, according to the legal recognition of the lands by the Paraguayan government.<\/p>\n A sign in the Chaco points to a Frigor\u00edfico Concepci\u00f3n owned farm, where Global Witness identified significant deforestation in 2024. Global Witness<\/p>\n Global Witness does not allege that the deforestation in Minerva and Frigor\u00edfico Concepci\u00f3n\u2019s supply chain is illegal. Paraguay\u2019s very weak environmental laws allow farms to deforest up to 75% of their properties legally. Pedro, who works for an environmental NGO in Paraguay, told us in 2024 Paraguay\u2019s environmental law was “antiquated” and no longer fit for purpose.<\/p>\n Whatever the legal status of deforestation in the country, land use change for agriculture on this scale causes huge CO2 equivalent emissions and issues for local people.<\/p>\n Minerva and Frigor\u00edfico Concepci\u00f3n contribute to this crisis by having policies to only rule out purchasing from areas of “illegal deforestation” only, which does nothing to disincentivise farmers to stop deforesting, as they know they will still be able to sell to the country\u2019s main slaughterhouses.<\/p>\n Earthsight and Global Witness\u2019s previous reporting shows the continued failure of the Paraguayan government to uphold the integrity of Ayoreo Totobiegosode territory in line with the special protection given to the area by the Inter-American Human Rights Commission in 2016.<\/p>\n A professor of human rights at Columbia University told Global Witness that corporations have obligations to protect human rights that go beyond national regulations, even when the State itself does not uphold these rights.<\/p>\n Why this matters for LVMH and other luxury brands: A message from the Chaco<\/p>\n There is a considerable risk that Nuti Ivo \u2013 and by extension LVMH, among other luxury brands \u2013 may still be purchasing hides or leather from deforested lands or deforestation overlapping with indigenous territories in Paraguay.<\/p>\n The findings of this investigation reflect a critical reality \u2013 talk on zero deforestation is cheap, but when regulation requires corporations to take real action to clean up their supply chains, the leather industry is using its power to maintain the status quo.<\/p>\n Global Witness previously found that Paraguay\u2019s Gran Chaco could be lost completely<\/a> within 50 years if current rates of deforestation continue. The European law UNIC and COTANCE are fighting so hard to weaken is crucial to driving real change in Paraguay and finally forcing companies like Lecom\/Parpelli, Minerva and Frigor\u00edfico Concepci\u00f3n to address deforestation in their supply chains.<\/p>\n The EUDR is vital for stopping agricultural deforestation, like this area of forest cleared for cattle ranching overlapping Ayoreo Totobiegosode indigenous territory in the Chaco in recent years. Global Witness<\/p>\n People who run businesses that want to destroy environmental laws should think of the Indigenous communities who live among nature every day<\/p>\n \n Totobiegosode campaigner, Guede\n <\/p>\n Without it, deforestation will continue apace. The world would lose a critical carbon sink and, crucially, Indigenous Peoples like the Ayoreo Totobiegosode could lose their home and spiritual connection to Eami.<\/p>\n “Eami” is simultaneously the Ayoreo word for forest, territory and the group\u2019s worldview, including<\/a> “flora, fauna and all their surroundings, of which the people are part.”<\/p>\n We asked Totobiegosode campaigner Guede what he thought of companies like LVMH trying to weaken laws that will help his people and the forest.<\/p>\n “I believe that people who run businesses that want to destroy environmental laws should think of the Indigenous communities who live among nature every day.<\/p>\n “Companies that buy meat or leather from deforested land do not respect the rights of Indigenous Peoples, and should not proceed in this way.”<\/p>\n Data visualisation by Jan Oledan<\/p>\n Head of Louis Vuitton tannery leads fight to gut EU deforestation law<\/p>\n![\"luxury](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/GettyImages-1181019822.original.width-800.jpg\")
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