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How the Rainforest Alliance Deforestation Risk Assessment Tool Supports EUDR Compliance

Filed Under: Certification  |  Tagged: , , , ,

The race is on to meet the requirements of the European Union Regulation on Deforestation-free Products (EUDR) by December 30, 2024. The regulation requires operators and traders who sell cocoa and coffee (as well as derived products like chocolate) to EU markets, or export them from the EU, to prove that these products do not originate from land deforested after December 31, 2020. 

In order to support your EUDR compliance efforts, the Rainforest Alliance will soon launch our Deforestation Risk Assessment Tool in September 2024. This service will provide customers of our tool with industry-leading risk assessments for deforestation based upon AI remote sensing forest data, publicly available data sets, and the Rainforest Alliance’s own proprietary tree cover maps.

The Rainforest Alliance developed this tool to support coffee and cocoa supply chain actors and farmers, especially those with non-certified sourcing footprints, with their EUDR compliance efforts. Our industry-leading Deforestation Risk Assessment Tool leverages our expertise in identifying deforestation risk. This tool has been embedded in our Certification Program for years, and we have decided to make our extensive knowledge in identifying deforestation risk more broadly available to support coffee and cocoa supply chain actors and farmers with their EUDR compliance efforts.

Frequently Asked Questions 

Who can use the Rainforest Alliance Deforestation Risk Assessment Tool? 

Generally, anyone with legal access to or ownership of geodata of farm units with coffee and cocoa can use our Deforestation Risk Assessment Tool. Any stakeholder such as brands, retailers, traders, importers, exporters, private label manufacturers, as well as NGOs, government agencies, co-op agents and farmers are eligible to use the tool.

Note: Users from China will not be eligible to use the tool due to data sharing and privacy laws. In addition, users from countries on the OECD Sanction List will not be eligible to use the tool.

Which crops are covered by the Rainforest Alliance Deforestation Risk Assessment Tool?

Our Deforestation Risk Assessment can be used to generate deforestation risk assessments for farm units containing coffee or cocoa.

How does the Rainforest Alliance Deforestation Risk Assessment Tool support EUDR compliance?

The Rainforest Alliance Deforestation Risk Assessment tool provides supporting evidence for companies to conduct their risk assessment as requested by the EUDR. When you submit geodata of coffee or cocoa farm plots to our Deforestation Risk Assessment Tool, you will be able to generate a risk assessment to support EUDR compliance.

Does use of the Rainforest Alliance Deforestation Risk Assessment Tool guarantee EUDR compliance?

No – the obligation to comply with EUDR rests solely with companies which the regulation applies to. Therefore, there is no guarantee of compliance with EUDR simply because an actor has used our Deforestation Risk Assessment Tool.

Our tool provides supporting evidence for EUDR compliance. There are other aspects of the law, such as assessing the legality of production, due diligence, and risk mitigation, which a company must do to be compliant with EUDR.

How can I access the Rainforest Alliance Deforestation Risk Assessment Tool?

You will be able to access the Rainforest Alliance Deforestation Risk Assessment Tool through the MyRA portal.

When will the Rainforest Alliance Deforestation Risk Assessment Tool be available for use?

The Rainforest Alliance will launch our Deforestation Risk Assessment Tool by the end of September 2024.

How will I be charged to use the Rainforest Alliance Deforestation Risk Assessment Tool?

Users will be charged per hectare to use the Rainforest Alliance Deforestation Risk Assessment Tool. Users will receive an invoice at the email used to sign up for the service, and will submit payment through our digital payment platform.

Which file types can I submit to the tool?

You can only submit GeoJSON files to our Deforestation Risk Assessment Tool.

What is the maximum number of farm plots that I can insert at once?

You can submit as many farm plots as you would like, but the maximum file size to submit to the tool is 30mb. If you want to submit greater than 30mb of data, you will have to conduct multiple risk assessments.

What file formats are generated by the Deforestation Risk Assessment Tool?

The Rainforest Alliance Deforestation Risk Assessment Tool generates GeoJSON files, which is the format you need to use to submit supporting evidence to comply with the EUDR. The tool will also be able to generate PDF files to view the results of your risk assessment in a more user-friendly file type.

Can I use the risk assessment for other crops under EUDR scope?

No. The Rainforest Alliance Deforestation Risk Assessment Tool is currently only available for coffee and cocoa.

Will the information I upload be stored?

Yes – your deforestation risk assessments will be stored indefinitely on our platform so you can access them for your EUDR compliance purposes.

On which data is the risk assessment based?

The Rainforest Alliance bases our deforestation risk assessments on proprietary forest-layer data sets for Peru, Ghana, Côte d’Ivoire, Nicaragua, Honduras, and Indonesia. We use Copernicus forest layers for other countries, mapped against Global Forest Watch maps for tree cover loss. We use proprietary AI remote sensing forest data alongside other publicly available and government data sources to map deforestation risks.

Learn more

To find out more, please contact your Rainforest Alliance account manager or contact our Customer Success team at customersuccess@ra.org

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