Flawed forest maps could undermine eu’s new deforestation-free trade rules

A comprehensive scientific review has exposed significant flaws in the forest mapping systems that companies will rely on to comply with the European Union’s groundbreaking Regulation on Deforestation-free products (EUDR). The study found that most available forest maps either overestimate or underestimate actual forest coverage, potentially leading to inaccurate assessments of deforestation risk when the regulation takes effect.

The EUDR, set to be implemented on December 30, 2026, after being postponed twice, will require companies to prove that seven key commodities—cattle, cocoa, coffee, palm oil, rubber, soy, and timber—were not produced on land deforested after December 31, 2020. Companies will need to use satellite-based forest maps to verify that their supply chains are deforestation-free, but the regulation doesn’t specify which mapping system to use.

This lack of standardization is proving problematic. Of the 21 forest mapping datasets evaluated in the study, only two met all the risk assessment indicators required by the EUDR. This means companies using different maps to verify the same land area could reach vastly different conclusions about compliance, creating confusion and potential loopholes in enforcement.

The findings highlight a critical challenge facing the EU’s ambitious effort to reduce European demand for products driving global deforestation. Without more accurate and standardized forest mapping tools, companies may struggle to genuinely comply with the regulation’s requirements, potentially undermining the policy’s environmental goals and creating unfair competitive advantages for businesses that choose less rigorous verification methods.