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

🤝 That’s a wrap for 2024. As we close off another busy year for Trase and our partners, we’re resharing some photo highlights from the last twelve months, showcasing our colleagues engaging with stakeholders across the globe, to share Trase data and inspire action towards more #sustainable and equitable #agricultural supply chains. 📈 🌿 See you in 2025!

💡 The Global Environmental Impacts of Consumption (GEIC) dashboard has recently been updated with the latest available data, providing fresh insights on how commodity consumption in one country is impacting #nature and #biodiversity in another ▶️ https://lnkd.in/eEU7V4Up 📈 Together with partners, Trase helped create the GEIC indicator, which uses the IOTA methodological framework to link physical data on commodity production and trade from different countries with a detailed financial matrix that traces inter-industry buying and selling across the world. 📊 Originally developed as a statistic to support the UK government to monitor overseas impact, it is now also listed as a component indicator for target 16 of the Global Biodiversity Framework. 🔍 But why is monitoring the overseas impacts of consumption important and how can the data be used to help make commodity supply chains more #sustainable? Watch the video to find out more ⬇️ JNCC GCRF Trade, Development and the Environment Hub (TRADE Hub) SEI — Stockholm Environment Institute

📢 Job Alert | Research Associate – Sustainable Consumption and Production 🌍 Are you passionate about addressing the global impacts of trade and consumption? Join SEI York, based at the University of York, to contribute to cutting-edge research and shape sustainable policies that drive meaningful change. What you will do: 🌟 Develop innovative quantitative models to assess global environmental impacts. 🌟 Collaborate with Trase - Intelligence for sustainable trade, a leader in supply chain transparency. 🌟 Produce high-impact research outputs and influence policy. 🌟 Engage in interdisciplinary collaborations within an international research team. ⏳ Deadline: 16 January 2025 ✉️ Find out more and apply: https://buff.ly/3VQ9sZs This is an exciting opportunity to advance sustainability goals in a supportive, inclusive, and globally recognized research environment. 💡

🌳 Brazil’s Soy Moratorium, agreed in 2006, has played a critical role in enabling the expansion of soy production without #deforestation in the Amazon. Signatories agree not to purchase soy from farms grown on land deforested after July 2008. 📉 Research by Heilmayr et al (2020) shows that it reduced annual deforestation by two-thirds, preventing the loss of approximately 18,000 km² of #forest over its first decade (2006–2016). ⚠️ But now the moratorium is threatened by legislation in several states, including leading soy producer Mato Grosso, to cut tax benefits for companies participating in the agreement. It is also being reported that some soy trade representatives are seeking changes to the moratorium’s monitoring criteria that would weaken it and undermine its credibility. 🌿 Weakening the monitoring criteria or ending the moratorium completely in some states will increase the deforestation exposure and reputational risks of moratorium-signatory trading companies such as ADM, Cargill, Bunge, Amaggi and Glencore, which source large quantities of soy from the #Amazon biome. Only one of the top-15 exposed companies, Sodrugestvo, is not a signatory of the moratorium (see figure below). 🤝 Trase urges all stakeholders to defend the integrity of the Amazon Soy Moratorium as a world-leading initiative reconciling agricultural development and #environmental protection.

⚠️ 80% of cattle-sector heavyweights are ignoring their links to Brazilian deforestation 🐮 Our new Floresta 250 - Cattle report reveals that major companies and financial institutions are failing to set and implement policies to tackle deforestation linked to cattle supply chains in #Brazil.   🌳 As the biggest agricultural driver of deforestation globally, cattle is the single most influential commodity to move the needle on global #deforestation and linked greenhouse gas emissions. 🌍 With deforestation taking centre stage for #COP30 in Brazil next year, the companies and financial institutions with the biggest stakes in Brazil’s cattle supply chains have a clear opportunity for targeted action, which can turbocharge global progress towards #nature and #climate goals. 🔍 Floresta 250 - Cattle assesses the performance of the 175 companies and 75 financial institutions with the greatest influence on Brazilian deforestation driven by cattle supply chains. It assesses these organisations on the strength and implementation of their commitments on deforestation, ecosystem conversion and associated #humanrights abuses. 📊 Key takeaways from the report: 🔹Companies do not recognise deforestation as a business risk 🔹Too few financial institutions are leveraging their influence 🔹Companies and financial institutions are largely overlooking human rights issues 💡 This new data reveals the critical next steps for these key players, and many will be watching to see if they take them. ➡️ Read the report -> https://lnkd.in/d9RzRejN

📢 André Vasconcelos, our Global Engagement Lead, will be part of a discussion looking back on the year for Deforestation-free Value Chains hosted by the International Trade Centre. Andre will join a panel to share highlights from the policy, legislation and trend developments in deforestation-free trade during 2024. 💻 Join the free webinar to know more about the current state of private and public sector efforts toward #EUDR compliance and the priority actions to consolidate #deforestation-free supply chains in 2025. 📍 18 December, 2 – 4 pm CET 👉Register here: https://bit.ly/3OvPwas 

📊 Today the Global Environmental Impacts of Consumption (GEIC) indicator dashboard has been updated with the latest international #trade and consumption data up to 2022. 🌳 The consumption of crops and cattle products in one country can drive environmental impacts such as #deforestation, biodiversity loss or the use of scarce water resources in another. 👣 To address this and achieve #biodiversity commitments, Governments need to understand and measure their overseas environmental footprint. 🔍 The GEIC dashboard provides a unique global dataset which can be used by countries worldwide to assess their offshored impacts and set national action plans. 📢 Chris West, Deputy Director of Research at SEI — Stockholm Environment Institute York, who developed the GEIC indicator alongside Trase and partners said: “Global consumption and trade is having a devastating impact on biodiversity and must be urgently addressed. The newly updated GEIC indicator dashboard provides countries with the latest data on their overseas environmental footprint, setting a starting point for government action.” https://lnkd.in/eEU7V4Up JNCC GCRF Trade, Development and the Environment Hub (TRADE Hub) Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

📊 Using open data from Trase, Forest 500, ZSL SPOTT and the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO) Oil, Forest IQ helps financial institutions implement the Taskforce on Nature-related Financial Disclosures (TNFD) recommendations for #nature-related risk disclosure reporting.     🌳 Robeco, Schroders, Federated Hermes and Storebrand have used Forest IQ to assess their #deforestation exposure through #TNFD’s LEAP approach (Locate, Evaluate, Assess and Prepare). 🔍 Find out more about how Forest IQ and Trase data on commodity-driven deforestation support investors to implement the TNFD: https://lnkd.in/e9jCbupp

🤝 Last week, Trase co-hosted a workshop with the Institute of Science and Development at the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CASISD) in #Beijing on Science and Data to Support Sustainable Agricultural Supply Chains. The event was attended by representatives from leading universities and NGOs and facilitated by World Economic Forum’s Tropical Forest Alliance. 🔍 The Trase Global Engagement Lead - André Vasconcelos and Trase Senior Researcher - Mark Titley,  presented new data and analysis on risks and opportunities in international commodity supply chains linked to #deforestation, #biodiversity loss and food security, which can help to identify pathways towards greener supply chains. 🌿 Reflecting on the trip André Vasconcelos said: “Through the Glasgow Forest Declaration and bilateral cooperation agreements like the Brazil-China joint statement on combating #climate change, governments have committed to working together to facilitate the transition to more #sustainable supply chains. 🌳 “Collaboration events such as this session co-hosted with CASISD are crucial for fostering discussions and exploring how data and cutting-edge research can support the delivery of these ambitious goals. We were extremely pleased with the valuable opportunity for Trase to exchange expertise and ideas to help progress the green supply chain agenda.”