Safeguarding the EUDR: Grounding Policy in Implementation Evidence

This project, supported by the Children’s Investment Fund Foundation (CIFF), works to make the implementation of the EUDR for companies feasible while keeping its ambition intact. Climate & Company bridges real-world implementation and EU policy engagement across two complementary tracks. We work with companies, associations, and supply-chain actors to identify genuine barriers and practical solutions for implementing the EUDR. And we feed this evidence directly into EU policy processes, at the moments that matter.

The EU Deforestation Regulation (EUDR) is at a critical juncture. After two delays and mounting industry pressure, a European Commission simplification review published in May 2026 has opened a window to make the EUDR ready for implementation. The regulation could emerge from this process stronger, or significantly weakened.

The EUDR is the EU’s central instrument for tackling deforestation linked to global commodity supply chains. It requires companies placing products such as beef, soy, cocoa, coffee, palm oil, rubber, and timber on the EU market to prove these goods have not contributed to deforestation.

But implementation has been delayed twice, and the regulatory debate has been dominated by companies and industry associations calling for delay or further simplification. Constructive voices (companies already implementing, associations preparing for compliance, and producer-country partners finding workable solutions) remain largely undocumented and disconnected from policy discussions. Policymakers currently lack a structured evidence base on how implementation is actually unfolding.

Three core challenges define the current moment:

• It is hard to distinguish genuine technical barriers from exaggerated or politically motivated claims.
• Practical solutions exist but are not reaching policymakers at the right time.
• Smallholders and local communities, central to deforestation-free production, bear part of the compliance burden without directly benefiting from new sustainability rules.

A weakened EUDR would remove the EU’s central tool for tackling deforestation, undermine the Green Deal’s credibility, and set back progress on global commodity supply-chain sustainability.

1) Making the EUDR work with companies upstream and downstream

We work directly with companies, importers, exporters, and supply-chain actors to identify genuine implementation barriers and develop practical solutions.

2) Safeguarding the EUDR at policy level

We translate implementation evidence into targeted policy engagement, during the simplification review and subsequent Council and Parliament discussions.

We are actively looking to engage with:

• Companies and industry associations that are preparing for EUDR compliance and willing to contribute practical experience to corporate solution labs.
• Policy actors and policymakers working on the EUDR simplification review, Council discussions, or European Parliament debates who need credible, implementation-grounded evidence.
• Research and civil society organisations with complementary expertise on EUDR, deforestation-free supply chains, smallholder finance, or producer-country implementation.
• Co-funders who share our commitment to ensuring the EUDR’s ambition is maintained and its implementation made genuinely feasible.