24. June 2024

Team Europe Initiative: New website for deforestation-free value chains

The website was launched at the end of May as 'Zero Deforestation Hub'.

The German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ), together with the European Commission and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Netherlands, presented the website of the Team Europe Initiative (TEI) for deforestation-free supply chains (https://zerodeforestationhub.eu/) at the stakeholder meeting of the Amsterdam Declaration Partnership (ADP) in Madrid at the end of May

The TEI Zero Deforestation Hub is an integral part of the TEI and provides an overview of the most important projects of the EU and its member states dealing with deforestation-free supply chains and the EUDR (regulation for deforestation-free products).

A key component of the website is knowledge dissemination, which is to be ensured by building a library of relevant materials. By gaining access to successful strategies and best practices, partner countries can improve their own approaches and better adapt them to the requirements of the EUDR. The collection will be continuously expanded with experience reports, good practice examples and case studies. In addition, the hub is intended to improve the coordination of existing and future activities with partners. As a central information platform, the Zero Deforestation Hub pools resources and knowledge and thus supports the implementation of the EUDR. The Hub is coordinated by the GIZ-SAFE project (Sustainable Agriculture for Forest Ecosystems) and implemented with a variety of partners from politics, science and civil society. The German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development, together with the European Commission and the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs, presented the hub at the stakeholder meeting of the Amsterdam Declaration Partnership (ADP) in Madrid at the end of May.

The TEI was launched by the EU together with high-ranking representatives from Germany, the Netherlands and France during the 28th United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP28 in Dubai). The global initiative aims to minimize the EU's contribution to global deforestation as part of the new EU regulation on deforestation-free products (EUDR, 2023/1115). From December 30, 2024, companies importing soy, beef, palm oil, timber, cocoa, coffee and rubber must ensure that they have been produced without deforestation and in accordance with the relevant laws of the country of production. In addition, greenhouse gas emissions are to be reduced, the loss of biodiversity halted and small farmers supported at the beginning of the supply chain.