Michael Smith’s Post

The new EU Deforestation Regulation (EUDR) represents a significant step towards reducing the EU's impact on global deforestation and forest degradation. Effective from December 2024, the regulation requires companies to ensure their products do not originate from deforested land and comply with strict due diligence requirements, which includes providing detailed traceability of commodities such as palm oil, soy, coffee, cocoa, timber, and rubber to their plantation origins, a measure to ensure sustainable production practices and improve supply chain transparency. Critical points for businesses: Stringent Due Diligence: Companies must verify that their products comply with the EUDR standards. They must trace commodities back to their origins with plantation-level GPS information, which involves mapping full supply chains, including indirect suppliers. Comprehensive Commodity Coverage: The regulation affects a broad range of commodities and derived products, requiring comprehensive reporting and traceability for all relevant supply chains. Certification Schemes: While certifications like the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO) and Rainforest Alliance can support compliance, more is needed. Companies need internal monitoring systems to ensure full compliance with the EUDR. Risks and Penalties: Non-compliance can result in significant financial penalties, including fines of up to 4% of a company's EU revenue, confiscation of revenues from concerned products, and temporary market bans. Companies also face reputational risks and potential loss of business. Opportunities: As global demand for deforestation-free products grows, complying with the EUDR can enhance trade opportunities and position companies as leaders in sustainability. Companies operating in the EU or exporting to it must prepare now. Establishing robust compliance frameworks, implementing centralised data-gathering capabilities, and ensuring key processes are in place will be crucial to meeting the EUDR requirements and avoiding severe penalties. Contact Ryan at OceanBlocks to discuss how to proceed with these compliance requirements. https://lnkd.in/dwy46_Za #EUDR #DeforestationFree #Sustainability #SupplyChainTransparency #ClimateAction #GreenDeal #SustainableBusiness #EURegulation #ForestConservation #GlobalTrade #OceanBlocks Sources: European Commission - Regulation on Deforestation-free products PwC - Getting started with the EUDR Sustainalytics - Navigating the EUDR Global Supply Chain Law Blog - Compliance with the EUDR

keeping abreast of EU regulations and compliance will prove challenging if you are operating there as these stringent laws lead the planet in preventing climate acceleration. If you are wondering how to strategise and operate with these regulations you would do well to look up Ryan Babbage for advise.

The new EU Deforestation Regulation (EUDR) represents a significant step towards reducing the EU's impact on global deforestation and forest degradation. Effective from December 2024, the regulation requires companies to ensure their products do not originate from deforested land and comply with strict due diligence requirements, which includes providing detailed traceability of commodities such as palm oil, soy, coffee, cocoa, timber, and rubber to their plantation origins, a measure to ensure sustainable production practices and improve supply chain transparency. Critical points for businesses: Stringent Due Diligence: Companies must verify that their products comply with the EUDR standards. They must trace commodities back to their origins with plantation-level GPS information, which involves mapping full supply chains, including indirect suppliers. Comprehensive Commodity Coverage: The regulation affects a broad range of commodities and derived products, requiring comprehensive reporting and traceability for all relevant supply chains. Certification Schemes: While certifications like the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO) and Rainforest Alliance can support compliance, more is needed. Companies need internal monitoring systems to ensure full compliance with the EUDR. Risks and Penalties: Non-compliance can result in significant financial penalties, including fines of up to 4% of a company's EU revenue, confiscation of revenues from concerned products, and temporary market bans. Companies also face reputational risks and potential loss of business. Opportunities: As global demand for deforestation-free products grows, complying with the EUDR can enhance trade opportunities and position companies as leaders in sustainability. Companies operating in the EU or exporting to it must prepare now. Establishing robust compliance frameworks, implementing centralised data-gathering capabilities, and ensuring key processes are in place will be crucial to meeting the EUDR requirements and avoiding severe penalties. Contact Ryan at OceanBlocks to discuss how to proceed with these compliance requirements. https://lnkd.in/dnT5Vwmi #EUDR #DeforestationFree #Sustainability #SupplyChainTransparency #ClimateAction #GreenDeal #SustainableBusiness #EURegulation #ForestConservation #GlobalTrade #OceanBlocks Sources: European Commission - Regulation on Deforestation-free products PwC - Getting started with the EUDR Sustainalytics - Navigating the EUDR Global Supply Chain Law Blog - Compliance with the EUDR

The European Union Deforestation - free Regulation (EUDR) regards, wood and wood products, coffee and rubber that are among Vietnam’s main export sector. The goal of regulation is to reduce the risk of deforestation due to European Consumption. The European Union Deforestation Regulation which is expected to take affect from December 2024 will directly affect stakeholders in the supply chain of coffee. Supply chain will face many challenges particularly in terms of location data, traceability, monitoring system, and deforestation free supply chain management. The Ministry of agriculture and rural development considers compliance with this regulation not only necessary to meet the requirements of the EU market for exporting key commodities but also an opportunity to accelerate the implementation of Vietnam’s agricultural development strategy towards transparency, responsibility, sustainability and green growth. For importers, this regulation provides assurance that the coffee they are sourcing meets certain environmental standards. However, by supporting sustainable coffee production, importers contribute to the preservation of biodiversity and ecosystems in coffee-growing regions, which can have positive impacts on local communities and economies.

🌍🚜 Empowering Farmers with Deforestation-Free Trade Gateway #DFTG 🌱🌿 In the context of #EUDR, the International Trade Centre is developing a new platform aimed at enhancing interoperability between existing IT systems for #datacollection and #datatraceability. The goal? To #empower farmers by ensuring they own their data and don’t need to repeatedly provide the same information across multiple platforms. By connecting different sources of information, the #DFTG gateway ensures that farmers and SMEs contributing to data collection retain ownership and are rewarded for their sustainability efforts through integrated supply chain mechanisms. Learn more in this article from Reuters: https://lnkd.in/e4jfDPCg #Sustainability #DeforestationFree #Trade #FarmersEmpowerment #DataOwnership #Interoperability #SupplyChain #ITC #EUDR #EUDeforestationRegulation

As a Farmer, I Oppose the EU-Mercosur Agreement The EU-Mercosur trade agreement contradicts the EU Green Deal’s objectives and threatens European farmers, the environment, and rural communities. It promotes an unsustainable trade model that prioritizes short-term economic gains over long-term sustainability. The agreement’s massive carbon footprint is a key issue. Transporting agricultural goods like beef and soy across continents significantly increases greenhouse gas emissions. Moreover, it incentivizes deforestation in the Amazon, destroying a critical carbon sink, further accelerating climate change. These actions directly undermine the EU’s climate commitments and the Green Deal’s ambition to reduce emissions. Unfair competition is another major concern. European farmers adhere to strict regulations on sustainability, food safety, and animal welfare, while Mercosur countries operate with lower standards. This disparity allows artificially cheap imports to flood European markets, placing local farmers at an economic disadvantage and devaluing their efforts to uphold high environmental and ethical standards. The agreement also poses a severe threat to rural communities. Many small and medium-sized farms, already under pressure, will struggle to compete and face closure. This accelerates rural depopulation and risks the loss of Europe’s cultural and agricultural heritage. Additionally, the deal compromises food security and sovereignty. Relying on imports from regions with unstable political and environmental conditions is risky. Consumers also demand sustainable and ethical food systems, and the agreement disregards these values by supporting imports tied to deforestation, poor labor practices, and unsustainable farming. In summary, the EU-Mercosur agreement undermines European farmers, worsens climate impacts, and contradicts the EU Green Deal. It sacrifices local agriculture and sustainability for imports with a high carbon footprint and lower standards. Policymakers must reject this agreement and prioritize protecting local farming, reducing emissions, and upholding ethical trade practices.

The debate we are seeing over EUDR is important.    If done correctly, government policy can incentivise private sector investment to support farmers and the broader agricultural sector adapt to greener practices.   However, if done incorrectly, or in isolation, the rules could just change where commodities end up and we risk passing the costs of compliance onto those with the least ability to adapt to the new norms - including small holder farmers.   Read my opinion piece for the Thomson Reuters Foundation here, for more information: https://lnkd.in/eBZiiu4i What do you think? Tropical Forest Alliance, Felipe Carazo, Duncan Brack, Jack Lloyd, We Mean Business Coalition, Proforest, Innovation Forum, The Consumer Goods Forum #Deforestation #EUDR #EU #TropicalForests #Commodities #SmallHolders

🌍🌿 **The Race to Map the World and Protect $110 Billion of Trade** 🌿🌍 On a hot morning in Lampung province, Indonesia, coffee grower Wiyono leads field agents around his farm. With a GPS unit and a tablet, they map his land as part of Europe’s new sustainability requirements, known as the EU Deforestation Regulation (EUDR). 🌐 **EUDR’s Global Impact** 🌐 EUDR is set to transform $110 Billion of global trade, targeting deforestation linked to key commodities: coffee, cocoa, soy, palm oil, cattle, rubber, and wood. By the end of the year, companies must prove their supply chains are deforestation-free since 2020, or face hefty EU penalties. ☕ **Coffee Farmers at the Forefront** ☕ Farmers like Wiyono and Sri Wahyuni are scrambling to comply. Indonesia, a top producer of five EUDR-targeted commodities, faces significant challenges. Smallholders often lack the means to trace their produce back to deforestation-free land, raising concerns about exclusion from the EU market. 📊 **The Scale of the Challenge** 📊 Mapping every smallholding is no small feat. With millions of coffee farms worldwide, organizations like Meridia Land BV are working tirelessly to geolocate and document farms. CEO Thomas Vaassen highlights the enormity of the task: “Thousands and thousands of people are now geolocating farms around the world.” 🌍 **Global Repercussions** 🌍 From Honduras to Ethiopia, small nations risk losing vital EU market access. Farmers, already struggling with poverty and lack of resources, are bracing for the impact. As Pamela Coke-Hamilton of the International Trade Centre puts it, “There’s the abject fear of countries over what this will mean for their exports and therefore their bottom line.” 💼 **Support and Solutions** 💼 The EU has pledged €70 Million to help smallholders adapt, but the clock is ticking. As companies and cooperatives race to comply, the reality of implementing such green policies remains complex and costly. 💬 **A Call for Fair Trade** 💬 Farmers worldwide are calling for fair compensation for their compliance efforts. Higher prices for consumers in Europe are anticipated, reflecting the increased costs of sustainable farming. 🚜 **Moving Forward** 🚜 The drive to map and protect farms is reshaping global trade. As new markets are explored, the focus remains on ensuring sustainable practices while supporting the farmers who bear the brunt of these changes. --- 🌟 *Join the conversation on how sustainability regulations like EUDR are reshaping global trade and impacting smallholder farmers worldwide.* 🌟 https://lnkd.in/g9hVrfdM #Sustainability #Trade #Coffee #EUDR #ClimateChange #FairTrade #GlobalEconomy #Agriculture #GreenPolicies #Smallholders

As the EUDR approaches implementation in 2025, companies across various industries, particularly those linked to commodities like soy, palm oil, beef, and coffee, are rethinking their supply chains. This regulation aims to ensure products sold in the EU don’t contribute to deforestation, but it also presents significant operational challenges for businesses globally. 🚨 What does this mean for companies? Have a look at the comprehensive article and let’s strike a conversation around it.

A recent report has said that to protect NZ's competitive advantage, exporters must be able to prove their sustainability credentials✅ The report was issued by the law firm Chapman Tripp and an environmental lobby group, The Aotearoa Circle. "With 80% of New Zealand’s exports by value going to markets that have mandatory ESG reporting in force or proposed, businesses which want to proactively manage ESG trade risk would do well to stay attuned to these developments.” ❗Organic certification is an excellent way to provide many of these details, with transparent supply chains and environmental protections. This Organic Week, many organically certified producers are opening their gates and doors - now is a great time to visit💚 🔗https://lnkd.in/gkd-VxeG #biogro #nzbusiness #newzealand #organic #agriculture #esg #sustainable #regenerative