An Aligned Methodology for Deforestation Compliance

The EU regulation on Deforestation-free products requires companies to perform due diligence to ensure that products covered by the regulation come from land that was not deforested after 31 December 2020 and were legally produced.

The deforestation-free requirement has sparked intense debates on the best geospatial datasets to use and led to a proliferation of approaches. There’s no prescribed map or standardized criteria for deforestation analysis, leaving many companies overwhelmed by the multitude of approaches.  

This is where TRACT comes in. Over the last several months, we’ve convened companies in a Technical Working Group to co-design and align on an EUDR deforestation assessment methodology. The co-creation of this methodology was possible thanks to time and insights from the companies participating in the Technical Working Group, including ADM, Cargill, Louis Dreyfus Company, Nestlé, ofi, Olam Agri, and Soya Hellas.

The aligned methodology relies on multiple geospatial data layers that result in two practical categorization frameworks. The first categorization is a traffic light system that helps companies easily manage their deforestation analysis of each polygon, revealing where further investigative efforts and future monitoring can best be invested. The second categorization provides a binary deforestation ‘detected’ or ‘not detected’ status so the user can proceed with clarity and confidence when creating a Due Diligence Statement.

These categories are automatically generated in near real-time after companies add geolocation data to TRACT – which can be done through simple bulk upload or by pooling of data from suppliers regardless of whether they are on TRACT today. The analysis is documented and saved to plot-level traceability of specific shipments, which is then seamlessly pulled through to due diligence statements.

A key to efficiently managing the polygon analysis is access to the essential data insights per polygon, like % of natural forest, % of tree cover loss and number of deforestation alerts, as well as the ability adjust the detection threshold to account for false positives that are common in geospatial analyses or different production systems.  

This methodology builds on our partnership with Global Forest Watch (GFW) and the supply-chains-oriented GFW Pro team at the World Resources Institute, which make the world’s leading data layers on forests and tree cover loss available to TRACT users.

“Development and implementation of a due diligence process for EUDR compliance is a novel requirement for many companies, so the aligned methodology and adjustable thresholds help simplify a complex challenge. TRACT’s approach leverages GFW’s trusted open-source datasets that are peer-reviewed to ensure scientific rigor and transparency, providing a foundation of credible evidence to support compliance claims,” said Elliott Ichimura, General Manager, GFW Pro.

Contact us at methodology@tract.eco for questions about the methodology.

Fill out the form below to download our EUDR Deforestation Status Methodology.