In 2020, a research paper published in the journal Science found that 20% of soy exports and at least 17% of beef exports from Brazil’s Cerrado and Amazon biomes to the European Union had been tainted by illegal deforestation. At the time, the EU was debating the EUDR, its regulation on deforestation-free products. Producer countries like Brazil were pushing back, worried about the cost and feasibility of complying with the regulations, said Raoni Rajão, an associate professor at the Federal University of Minas Gerais (UFMG) in Brazil and lead author of the paper. The study, which analyzed land use across 815,000 rural properties in the Amazon and Cerrado, showed that “technology and data do exist to implement government systems for universal traceability,” Rajão told Mongabay. This prompted him and other UFMG researchers to develop an online platform that uses official records to cross-check data on land use, deforestation, cattle transport, and compliance with environmental laws of rural properties, making the information public and free. Called Selo Verde (“Green Label” in English), the platform was first trialed in 2021 for soy and beef in the Amazonian state of Pará. Three other Brazilian states have since adopted their own version of it, offering a model for guaranteeing that commodities destined for the EU — such as soy, beef, coffee and cacao — are compliant with the EUDR. Due to come into effect at the end of this year after two postponements, the EUDR puts the onus on importers to ensure that certain…This article was originally published on Mongabay

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