World Cocoa Foundation sets out risk assessments for EUDR compliance
Chris Vincent, of the WCF speaking at the World Cocoa Conference, has welcomed its new framework for EUDR compliance. Pic: Neill Barston
A major move has been delivered by the World Cocoa Foundation (WCF) in developing a comprehensive deforestation risk assessment methodology for its members to enable compliance with EUDR deforestation legislation, reports Neill Barston.
With the landmark regulations due to come in at the end of this year, there has been considerable concern expressed from a number of quarters over how this new framework will be implemented – and whether farmers, including cocoa communities will be left to fund the satellite monitoring-based systems that underpin the much-anticipated sourcing model.
The EU Commission has asserted that it remains on track to deliver the legislation, which as a concept has received broad backing, and is designed to create mandatory deforestation-free supply chains for a number of agricultural commodities, as well as enhance human rights protection for key producer nations.
But it has received pushback on its proposed timeline from a number of European nations, as well as other regions including Malaysia and Indonesia, which are major suppliers of palm oil, and have expressed concerns that farmers will struggle to meet the proposed installation of the new system later this year.
The issue is set to be among key topics on the agenda of this year’s World Confectionery Conference, which makes a key return to Brussels in Belgium next week on 12 September. There is still time to register for the event, which can be done at the following link.
According to the WCF, whose membership includes some of the largest players in the sector including Cargill, Barry Callebaut, Ferrero, Buhler, Nestle and ethically focused medium-sized businesses such as Luker Chocolate, the new methodology standardises how companies assess the deforestation risk level of all plots where cocoa destined for the EU market was produced – an analysis that is required for compliance with the European Union Deforestation Regulation (EUDR).
Taking effect at the start of 2025, EUDR will require importers of key commodities such as cocoa to show that those goods were produced on land free of deforestation since the end of 2020.
legislation methodology
As the WCF noted, there has not been an authoritative methodology for assessing deforestation risk in the cocoa supply chain. The new methodology offers step-by-step technical guidance to help companies comply with EUDR as they ship cocoa to EU markets. It is designed to work with cocoa from all origin countries. WCF developed it in partnership with remote sensing pioneer Satelligence, the European Cocoa Association (ECA) and the European Forest Institute (EFI). It includes detailed direction on how to gather and clean farm polygon data, compare against forest baseline sources and detect deforestation.
“This new WCF methodology helps ready the cocoa sector for EUDR compliance and is an important milestone in WCF’s overall traceability strategy,” said Chris Vincent, WCF President. “That strategy is focused on industry alignment and collective action, including enabling science-based, standardised best practices and systems that will contribute to real impact across the sector. It helps our members, cocoa farmers and policymakers achieve the shared goal of ending cocoa-related deforestation and improving farmer incomes linked to cocoa.”
By establishing best practices for data and processes, the new methodology will boost confidence in cocoa traceability and cocoa sustainability. It will enable companies to provide greater assurance regarding the cocoa passing through their supply chains. And it will help EUDR-compliant cocoa farmers maintain market access to the EU and avoid being unintentionally excluded from those supply chains by reducing “false positives.” These are instances where potential deforestation is detected but none has actually taken place.
“By helping the cocoa sector adopt a unified best-practice deforestation detection methodology tailored to the feedback of EU stakeholders, we created a reliable standard that directly supports EUDR compliance and beyond,” said Satelligence CEO Niels Wielaard. “Collective action builds trust and transparency among all stakeholders—including governments—ensuring that the path forward is both simpler and more effective as we all work towards a deforestation-free cocoa sector.”
Several WCF member companies participated in validating and refining the methodology prior to launch by using it to develop their own preparedness reports.
“Protecting forests has been a priority for Cargill for a long time. We have been working on best-in-class deforestation risk assessment solutions both through in-house experts and collaboration with external organisations,” said Jonathan Escolar, Technical Specialist for Climate, Land Use and Water at Cargill, which is a WCF and an ECA member company. “As an existing partner of Satelligence, we are happy to contribute to and support this methodology’s rollout across the broader WCF membership and contribute towards EUDR compliance. We hope to seek alignment and facilitate the exchange of data between supply chain actors leading to valuable learnings.”
