The Rainforest Alliance regrets the proposal by the European Commission to postpone the European Union Regulation on Deforestation-Free Products (EUDR) by twelve months. We see this as a blatant contradiction with all EU commitments to halt global biodiversity loss and climate change. It also sets a dangerous precedent leading to potential reopening of all the crucial regulations and directives adopted as part of the EU Green Deal.
This delay also penalizes those companies and producers that have already made significant investments to comply with the EUDR. The Rainforest Alliance has supported the EUDR from its inception and has consistently rejected any postponement of its implementation. The EUDR is the result of a very long process and comes as the result of decades of inaction to tackle deforestation.
The Rainforest Alliance is prepared to support all of our partners in becoming EUDR compliant as soon as possible. We have fast-tracked changes to our certification program to support our partners with EUDR compliance. In addition, we will launch an EUDR Deforestation Risk Assessment Tool for non-certified supply chain actors and farmers. This innovative tool is designed to help farmers and supply chain actors assess deforestation risks in their supply chains, enabling them to meet the stringent requirements set forth by the EU.
The Rainforest Alliance stands ready to support stakeholders in the cocoa and coffee sectors and we call on the European Commission, member states and companies to provide appropriate support for the implementation of the EUDR for smallholder farmers so that the costs of compliance are not passed to them, and they are not excluded from the EU market due to a lack of resources.
We welcome the publication of the long-awaited guidance and updated FAQ and urge companies to intensify their efforts to reach compliance, especially should the additional transitional period be approved by the Council and the Parliament.
The fight to protect the world’s forests is at the very heart of the Rainforest Alliance’s mission. Together with farmers and forest communities, scientists, governments, companies, and citizens, we are working diligently in more than 60 countries to cultivate sustainable, rural economies—the most widely-proven strategy to keep our forests standing.
