Trase - Intelligence for sustainable trade

🌳  After months of uncertainty, the European Union has rejected last minute amendments to weaken the #EUDR, but agreed to postpone the regulation by one year. 💡 In our latest insight Trase Co-Directors Helen Bellfield and Toby Gardner and Global Engagement lead André Vasconcelos detail what needs to happen now to successfully implement the EUDR. ➡️The European Commission should prioritise delivering a robust benchmarking system. As deforestation varies within countries, Trase recommends risk classifications which distinguish between regions within countries and specific commodities. ➡️Member states should make swift progress on ensuring they are sufficiently resourced to enforce the EUDR. Competent authorities must be nominated and supported to put in place risk-based plans for targeting enforcement checks which are workable and pragmatic. ➡️Operators and traders should continue to work towards compliance by putting in place the necessary due diligence processes for assessing deforestation and legal risk in their supply chains. Trase data can be used as one source of evidence in the risk assessment step of the due diligence process. ➡️Producer countries should engage with the #EU and secure the necessary resources to develop their national traceability systems, support local producers in achieving readiness and learn from best practice examples. Read our latest insight: https://lnkd.in/e862pMZ6

⚠️ As we approach #COP30, the Global Forest Assessment’s 2030 Forest Vision sets out eight urgent actions for governments to prioritise in 2025 if they are to get on track to meet goals to halt and reverse forest loss by 2030, pledged at COP26. 🌳 The call-to-action urges renewed ambition from governments to deliver on promises to protect, conserve and restore the world’s forests, and outlines guidance on how to achieve this, including through the promotion of deforestation-free trade. 📢 Find out more about the 2030 Forest Vision which has been endorsed by leading civil society and research organisations including Trase founding partners SEI – Stockholm Environment Institute and Global Canopy: https://lnkd.in/dSrx2y5Q Read the eight actions ⬇️ Forest Declaration Assessment #Climateaction #Deforestation

⚠️ The food we consume plays a critical role in forest loss. Forests are destroyed to produce globally traded commodities, harming the #climate, biodiversity and communities. It is estimated that 90-99% of tropical deforestation is directly or indirectly driven by #agriculture. 🌳 The 2025 International Day of Forests revolves around the crucial relationship between global food systems and forests. The expansion of five globally traded agricultural commodities with a huge impact on forests - beef, soy, palm oil, wood pulp and cocoa - drives #deforestation and peat loss in six key producing countries, Trase research showed. 📈 The 2023 study quantified the resulting emissions and connected them to the volumes sourced by importing markets, and found that deforestation linked to the production of these commodities generates emissions equivalent to 444 million tonnes of CO2 per year. This is greater than the #UK's annual greenhouse gas emissions. 🤝 It’s vital that international action is taken to address the deforestation caused by global food consumption, in order to protect #biodiversity and address climate change. 💡 Dr Carina Mueller, researcher at Trase, explains the key findings of the study in this video ⬇️

💡 How can responsible sourcing drive supply chain resilience and long-term business success? What can responsible sourcing professionals learn from procurement? And is regulation enough to drive widespread responsible sourcing? 📢 These are all topics under discussion at the Innovation Forum’s Responsible Sourcing and Ethical Trade event which Trase Communications Lead - Mary Frampton - is attending this week. 🤝 The two-day session is focused on exploring how companies can develop and implement robust #humanrights due diligence and responsible sourcing policies, the practical implications of evolving legislation, and what this means for business operations and the future of ethical trade. #IFSocial25 #Supplychain #Duediligence

📊 What is the role of data in tackling commodity-driven #deforestation and associated human rights abuses? 🌳 Join us for a discussion exploring #sustainable supply chains at The Marmalade Festival on 2 April, 12:30-14:00 BST, at Wesley Memorial Methodist Church, Oxford. 📢 Hear from: Helen Bellfield – Deputy Executive Director at Global Canopy and co-director of Trase - Intelligence for sustainable trade. Belinda Christine Borck – Tony's Chocolonely (Tony’s Open Chain) public policy lead looking after the EU, US and UK regions. Aisha Raheem-Bolarinwa – Skoll Scholar, CEO and Co-Founder of Farmz2U   The session will be moderated by Emma Gollub, Strategic Engagement Director at Global Canopy. ➡️ Register here: https://lnkd.in/eHYHEvzs Skoll Foundation

💡 Curious about sustainability initiatives in the cocoa industry? Our researcher Valentin Guye will join a webinar by SUSTAIN-COCOA and share insights on the role of cocoa supply chains in #deforestation and child labour. 🌳 The SUSTAIN-COCOA project brings together eight leading research institutes to investigate how supply chain sustainability initiatives can reduce deforestation and increase shade tree cover in #cocoa production systems. 📅 Join this online webinar on Wednesday, 26 March, 9:00 - 10:15 GMT and also hear from Dr. Wilma J. Blaser Hart, The University of Queensland, Dr. Federico Cammelli, ETH Zürich/University of Cambridge, and Dr. Christian Bunn, Alliance Biodiversity & CIAT ⬇️ https://lnkd.in/e-ZUxn9Y ➡️ Register here - https://lnkd.in/ejZv2pCM

🌐 Today AdAstra Sustainability is making open its Orbae platform, which provides high-accuracy land use change emission factors for agricultural commodities worldwide. 📊 This free app can help companies better monitor land conversion in their supply chains and enhance targeted interventions to end #deforestation - https://lnkd.in/es54RUm5 🌿 Last year, AdAstra used Trase data to help a leading food manufacturer identify the origins of #soy in animal feed and track its impact on the carbon footprint of chicken products. Orbae helped calculate corresponding land conversion emission factors at subnational level which enabled the food manufacturer to take action on their greenhouse gas emission hotspots regardless of traceability levels. ➡️ Read more about how the combined insights from AdAstra and Trase led to effective decisions on addressing the climate impacts of soy in the supply chain - https://lnkd.in/eArPw7wy 🔎 Explore the Orbae tool at orbae.eco.

📢 The European Commission recently proposed amendments which would significantly weaken crucial Green Deal Laws intended to make companies identify and address the environmental and social impacts of their activities. ⚠️The proposals include changes to the Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive (CSDDD), which would no longer require companies to undertake systematic due diligence on their entire value chain, but only on direct suppliers. This would leave significant impacts unaddressed. 🔎 Trase analysis shows that, in the case of forest risk commodities, large volumes are sourced indirectly by traders, rather than direct from farmers - https://lnkd.in/eq2h2cB6 Therefore, restricting due diligence to only their closest business partners would mean companies won’t tackle a major proportion of the environmental and social impacts linked to their sourcing.  💡 Learn more about the proposals and why hundreds of organisations are calling for them to be rejected, in this insight for Global Canopy by Trase Communications Lead Mary Frampton ⬇️ https://lnkd.in/e_eWVFMb #EU #Omnibus #EuropeanUnion #CorporateSustainability #GreenDeal

🔎 Under the EUDR companies trading commodities in the EU will need to know where they were produced to prove that they are not linked to #deforestation or illegal practices. 🍫 Cocoa accounts for around a third of the EU’s deforestation exposure, most of which occurs in Côte d’Ivoire and Ghana, the leading producers. 📊 In Côte d’Ivoire, most cocoa is grown by smallholder farmers and brought to market through intermediary suppliers, making traceability and compliance with the #EUDR more difficult. ⚠️ Without the provision of adequate support for smallholder farmers, there is a significant risk that some could be excluded from supplying to the EU, putting their livelihoods at risk. 💡 Tony's Chocolonely’s ‘Tony’s Open Chain’ initiative offers a best-practice example of how companies could engage with their suppliers in a way that protects and supports the livelihoods of smallholder farmers while also ensuring EUDR compliance. ➡️ Read more about the importance of putting smallholders at the heart of EUDR implementation and the best practice approach taken by Tony’s Open Chain in this new joint authored insight by Edith Tea, Belinda Christine Borck, Valentin Guye and André Vasconcelos: https://lnkd.in/dKRFEpef #Sustainable #Chocolate #TonysChocolonely

🌍 What if we could trace the journey of everyday products like the soy in your food or the beef on your plate back to their origins and uncover their environmental impact? That is exactly what Trase - Intelligence for sustainable trade does. An initiative of SEI and Global Canopy, it uses supply chain and geospatial data to map the global trade of agricultural commodities, linking import markets and traders to #deforestation, carbon emissions and other sustainability risks. 🔍 Why does this matter? Take Brazil’s Cerrado, the world’s most biodiverse savannah, where soy-driven deforestation has hit record levels. As new regulations like the EU Deforestation Regulation (#EUDR) take effect, companies must prove their supply chains are deforestation-free. This is where Trase steps in. • Regulators and businesses use Trase data to pinpoint deforestation risks • Campaigners and consumer groups leverage Trase insights to push for stronger corporate action • Companies can stay ahead of regulations and ensure compliance before forests are lost As part of SEI’s #RoadTo2029 strategy, Trase is evolving, investing in geospatial intelligence and global trade analysis to drive real change. In 2025, we are set to launch exciting new projects that will bring even greater transparency to the environmental impacts of global commodity trade, strengthening accountability and making supply chains more sustainable. The fight against deforestation is entering a new era. It is time for companies to rise to the challenge. 📖 Learn more: https://buff.ly/aW6gKZZ #SupplyChains #Soy #Beef #SustainableTrade #ClimateAction #EURegulations #FrugalAI | 🎥 Toby Gardner