Beginning this week, Rainforest Alliance Certified cocoa farmers can opt-in to specific criteria that align with European Union Deforestation Regulation (EUDR) requirements, within the Rainforest Alliance certification platform. This will allow companies to source from participating farms, trace those ingredients through their supply chains, and leverage farm data by the regulation's deadline to prove that they have a system in place to assess and mitigate deforestation risks in their supply chains, at no additional cost, supporting them to make progress towards full compliance.

The regulation will require companies and traders placing products that contain any of the seven deforestation-risk commodities, including cocoa, on the EU market, or exporting them from the EU, to prove by December 30, 2024, that these products do not originate from land deforested after December 31, 2020.

Leveraging its globally recognized certification program, the Rainforest Alliance helps farmers collect and process crucial geo-coordinates for their farms. This information is vital for the accurate mapping of deforestation risks, with the analysis conducted at farm level using Geographic Information System (GIS) technology. The process integrates Rainforest Alliance's proprietary AI remote sensing forest data alongside other publicly available and government data sources to map deforestation risks, which improves accuracy compared to relying solely on open-source data methods.

Farmer groups then use these risk maps for their own internal deforestation checks, particularly in high-risk areas. As an additional layer of assurance, independent, third-party auditors use these maps to conduct risk-based verification of no-deforestation, as mandated by the Rainforest Alliance Sustainable Agriculture Standard. The combination of traceability, proprietary AI forest mapping, and auditing offers a unique solution to coffee and cocoa companies.

“The Rainforest Alliance has been working to tackle tropical deforestation in global supply chains for more than 35 years,” says Michelle Deugd, director of forests and agriculture. “Traceability has always been the backbone of that approach. Building on these foundations we’ve worked hard to fast-track the alignment of our certification program with the new regulations, including proprietary AI remote sensing data for mapping deforestation risks.” 

The Rainforest Alliance has supported the regulation since its inception, while actively campaigning to highlight the genuine risk of unintentionally leaving farmers behind in the compliance race. To guarantee successful implementation without negatively impacting smallholders around the world, the Rainforest Alliance calls on companies and legislators to ensure smallholders are supported to adapt to the new requirements, preventing their exclusion from the EU market.

"We have a unique opportunity to step up our collective efforts to tackle deforestation while protecting the livelihoods of smallholder farmers," concludes Deugd. "By working together, we can ensure that the EUDR is a win-win for both people and nature."