Deforestation-free supply chains

A key element of the European Green Deal, the EU Regulation on Deforestation-free products (EUDR), is an attempt to reduce the EU’s contribution to global deforestation while paving the way for more sustainable supply chains, and reinforcing cooperation with partner countries on joint challenges surrounding deforestation. This ambitious law is not an end in itself but forms a part of a broader strategy to combat deforestation and forest degradation, first outlined in the 2019 Commission Communication on Stepping up EU Action to Protect and Restore the World’s Forests.

In essence, the EUDR requests that companies exporting from, importing to, or placing on the EU market certain types of commodities, including cocoa, coffee, and their derived products (see Annex I of the Regulation), to verify, though a due diligence process, that they are both legal, as per the laws of the country of origins of the product, and deforestation-free, according to the definitions laid down by the EU Regulation.

Our View

Throughout the legislative process of the file, the FTAO has supported the overall ambitions of the law. However, we have also continuously stressed that the Regulation can only achieve its objective of reducing levels of global deforestation if it is aligned with the realities of smallholder farmers, and does not result in their exclusion from the EU market. Specifically, the key demands the FTAO has been advocating for, both in its various coalitions and with decision-makers, are:

Conducting a timely assessment of the impacts that this law will have on smallholder farmers, particularly with regard to compliance costs across the different commodities and regions affected.
On the basis of such an assessment, the EU institutions coupled with the private sector should provide adequate financial and capacity support to ensure that the cost of compliance does not get pushed down to smallholder farmers.
Tackling the root causes of deforestation such as farmer poverty and the imbalance of power in global supply chains through targeted, multilateral and incentive-based actions.