SustainableCommodity · The European Deforestation-free law intended and unintended effect on the agricultural commodities supply chain sustainability

The research project “SustainableCommodities” studies the European Deforestation-free law (EUDR) intended and unintended effect on Agricultural Commodities (AC) Supply Chains (SC) social, economic and environmental sustainability, providing insight into related business opportunities and risks, and ultimately suggesting improvements and reinterpretations to the existing regulatory framework. To meet the growing AC demand more resources are required to increase production, such as land, labor force, technologies, logistics, transportation, storage, and production infrastructure. However, the AC production is also responsible for significant negative impacts on the environment and on the people and communities involved especially in developing countries,. In governing AC SC dynamics, the EU has taken a decisive step with the EUDR establishing that ""any operator or trader who places these commodities on the EU market, or exports from it, must be able to prove that the products do not originate from recently deforested land.""The aim of the project is to: i) Understand if the EUDR, is setting the stage for the de-commoditization of AC, its effect on social, economic, and environmental sustainability of SC’s. ii) Establish what characteristics should a certification have to ensure environmental, economic, and social sustainability of the SCs and identify what technologies are functional for this purpose. iii) Clarify the EUDR effect on global AC flows and predict any possible availability risk and product demand risk. Understand the effect of the global flow change on sustainability in the SC. iv) Evaluate whether and how a substantial rethinking of the AC SC in terms of production, transportation, and transformation strategies is required and if the interplay between regulators, multinational firms, and farmers needs to be redefined by different, regulatory strategies and rewarding mechanisms.""