Barry Callebaut adds to the chorus of industry calling for EUDR regulations to be delivered urgently
Global chocolate and cocoa business Barry Callebaut has joined an array of businesses that have called upon the EU to set about its much-anticipated EUDR environmental legislation, writes Neill Barston.
The company’s pleas to the European Commission comes in addition to recent statements from the Cocoa Coalition consisting of Ferrero, Hershey, Mars, Unilever and Tony’s Chocolonely, Nestle and Mondelez, along with Fairtrade, advocacy group, the Voice Network, and the International Cocoa Initiative, stated that full implementation of the scheme as quickly as possible is the best course of action.
It comes as a critical vote on the situation is due to be debated at a session of the European Parliament on Thursday, and as previously reported, the major European People’s Party, has sought to push the introduction of the legislation back by a total of two years – rather than the year delay that the EU proposed amid concerns from industry that starting the scheme next month would leave many nations unprepared.
As previously covered, the new legislation would compel companies to prove they are deforestation free in their supply chains, including cocoa, palm oil and soy – which has received broad backing from the sector. But pushback from more than 20 nations within the EU claimed that they were not ready for it to be implemented at the end of next month, despite the legislation having been formally agreed more than 18 months ago.
In a statement, Barry Callebaut said: “We still call for the swift implementation of this critical legislation and urge the legislators to dismiss all proposed amendments which would dilute the impact of the regulation. Reopening its content at this stage could massively disrupt the operational implementation of EUDR, while also creating legal uncertainty for companies.
“For the past three years, Barry Callebaut – and many of our customers – have been a strong advocate for this vital legislation in its current form as we believe it is our responsibility to lead efforts in halting deforestation and advancing sustainable farming practices throughout our supply chain – all the way from farmers to our customers.”
The business added that achieving a sustainable transformation of the cocoa supply chain ‘requires concerted effort and resources from all stakeholders,’ and noted that over the past year, it had strengthened its commitment to implementing full traceability within its supply chain and adopt a leadership position on the issue.
