Most global coffee firms will not be ready to comply with the new EU law preventing imports of commodities linked to deforestation, and small farmers may suffer as a consequence, a major coffee sector report found.
The EU's law, effective at end-2024, requires importers of coffee, cocoa, beef, soy, rubber and palm oil to prove their goods are not contributing to the destruction of forests — a major source of climate change — or risk hefty fines.
According to the Coffee Barometer, prepared by a group of NGOs, coffee firms' lack of preparedness for the law might prompt them to shift sourcing to more developed regions like Brazil that have better traceability, leaving millions of mostly small scale, poverty stricken farmers in the lurch.
It called on both the EU and coffee firms to ensure this does not happen, because desperate farmers might be forced to expand into forested areas to increase output in order to make ends meet, and sell to regions with less stringent environmental rules, negating the intended impact of the law.
Roughly 130,000ha of forest are lost annually due to land cleared for coffee growing, while deforestation is responsible for about 10% of global greenhouse gas emissions that drive climate change.
Coffee is produced by an estimated 12.5-million farmers in 70 countries, with Brazil, Vietnam, Colombia, Indonesia and Honduras producing 85% of the world's coffee.
The remaining 15% is produced by 9.6-million farmers, in countries such as Ethiopia, Uganda, Tanzania, Kenya, Peru and Guatemala.
The EU's deforestation law has upset producing countries, with Indonesia accusing the EU of 'regulatory imperialism'.
— Reuters
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