Fairtrade Standards require distribution of the responsibility of tackling deforestation more equitably across all stakeholders in the supply chain. Our partnership with Satelligence supports producers to collect, understand, and own their own data, which they can then share with their trade partners. This means they have ongoing risk assessments and can take action accordingly.

Data and information are key to identifying the risk of deforestation, and enabling trade partners to trace products back to where they were grown. This is an increasingly important element of Fairtrade supply chains, not just related to forest protection but other due diligence needs as well. Fairtrade supports producers with essential guidance on the data and formats required by the EUDR.

Fairtrade Standards for cocoa and coffee include geolocation mapping, deforestation monitoring, risk assessments, mitigation plans, and support for producers to mitigate deforestation risks. Audits by our third-party certifier, FLOCERT, mean an additional layer of verification.

Fairtrade prices support better incomes, and Fairtrade Premium can be invested by producer organisations in forest protection, such as switching to different crop varieties, or making their own organic fertiliser, improving their output and livelihoods. Fairtrade programmes contribute to key enablers of forest protection by smallholder farmers, such as climate adaptation and agroforestry. Learn more from a recent study about how Fairtrade contributes to forest protection and preventing deforestation.

Farmers know the benefits of forests, but don’t always have the resources to strengthen conservation while also maintaining their own livelihoods in the face of low prices, climate change and other challenges. We advocate for more support and resources for producers, so they do not bear the burden of forest protection or regulation compliance alone.

Fairtrade producer networks offer essential support to coffee and cocoa producer organisations so data are high quality and in the right format.

Fairtrade coffee and cocoa producers get essential deforestation risk information from Satelligence’s satellite monitoring platform free of charge thanks to our partnership. Producer organisations can share their risk reports with their trade partners.

Companies have access to the Fairtrade Risk Map to support their risk assessments.

Sourcing Fairtrade products can contribute to risk mitigation by addressing the root causes of risks through higher prices and producer support projects, as well as through risk mitigation requirements in the Fairtrade Standards.

Companies show compliance with EUDR by first conducting due diligence on where their products come from, documenting this in a due diligence statement, and submitting that to the EU. Next, companies must conduct a risk assessment according to criteria outlined in the EUDR, and based on the information they have about their suppliers. Finally, companies need to take action to mitigate potential identified risks. Learn more here.

Fairtrade sourcing may be considered as a contributing factor in risk assessment and risk mitigation. However, no voluntary sustainability scheme or certification is sufficient to prove EUDR compliance on its own.

Sourcing Fairtrade products can support companies with their four main EUDR due diligence obligations:

1.       Collecting geolocation data:
Fairtrade interventions support better availability and quality of geolocation data for Fairtrade certified producer organisations.

2.       Collecting deforestation monitoring data:
Fairtrade coffee and cocoa producers get essential deforestation risk information from Satelligence, for free thanks to our partnership. Producer organisations can follow up on risk alerts to determine their accuracy, and can share their reports with their trade partners.

3.       Conducting risk assessments:
In addition to the deforestation monitoring data available from producer organisations, companies have direct access to the Fairtrade Risk Map to support their risk assessments.

4.       Implementing risk mitigation measures:
Sourcing Fairtrade products can contribute to risk mitigation by addressing the root causes of risks through higher prices and producer support projects; as well as through risk mitigation requirements in the Fairtrade Standards.

Regional Fairtrade producer networks are supporting producers to understand what’s needed, and Fairtrade has developed step-by-step resources.

Here’s how the process works: Producer organisations collect their members’ geolocation data and submit it to Fairtrade International via an existing reporting platform called FairInsight. Fairtrade International conducts some validation checks and sends data back to the producer organisation if any corrections are needed. Once the corrected data have been resubmitted, they are uploaded to Satelligence’s platform and used to generate a deforestation alert report.

Producer ownership of their own data is central to Fairtrade’s approach. Both the corrected geolocation data and the report are returned to the producer organisation via FairInsight. Producer organisations can choose to share the data and reports with their trade partners. They can also submit a consent form to Fairtrade International giving permission to share their alert reports with a commercial partner.

In this dynamic period, our first priority is to support producer organisations so they have the information they need to provide to their trade partners, including their geolocation data and deforestation monitoring results.

Producer ownership of their own data is central to Fairtrade’s approach. Both the corrected geolocation data and the report are returned to the producer organisation via FairInsight. Producer organisations can choose to share the data and reports with their trade partners. They can also submit a consent form to Fairtrade International giving permission to share their alert reports with a commercial partner.

Traders and buyers are responsible for getting the necessary information from the producer organisations they buy from, and transmitting that information in turn to their buyers. In general, our experience is that producer organisations often want long-term relationships with their buyers and are willing to work with them to meet requirements.

If you’re a trader that wants to know your supplier’s geolocation information, we encourage you to contact your supplier directly to see where they are in the process and what support may be needed.

Not currently. We are looking into the best approach to this, one that respects producers’ rights to their information, respects the fact that many producers are still in the process of completing geolocation data collection and could be disadvantaged by the publication of a partial list at this point, and also respects the fact that companies need information for their due diligence process.

To date, Fairtrade International does not plan to share the geolocation data we receive from traders with other supply chain actors.

Satelligence has access to data from any clients who use their services, however the data of mapped farms is retained by the client and thus not available for Satelligence to share with others.

Per Fairtrade Trader Standard requirement for cocoa, traders are required to share the data with Fairtrade. At the moment, we are not looking at this data in depth to pass to Satelligence as the focus has been on producer organisations’ capacity building. We will use the trader-submitted data to cross check it with the producer-submitted data to reduce errors.

The work of collecting and validating quality geolocation data is very labour intensive and we have been mobilising extensive resources under the direction of our producer networks in Latin America and the Caribbean, Africa, and the Asia Pacific region – more than €700,000 to date. Funding partners such as GIZ (the German Agency for International Cooperation) have also contributed needed resources towards this work. Even so, estimates from our producer networks indicate that each PO requires between €5,000 and €15,000 to fund geolocation data collection; the budget needs vary depending on the regions and size of the groups.

Once producer organisations submit valid geolocation data to Fairtrade, it can take four weeks to receive their risk report back from Satelligence. This timeframe will be reduced with some changes to the Satelligence platform coming soon.

We are tracking progress at each step. For questions about the status of specific producer organisations, please contact your relevant national Fairtrade organisation.

The Fairtrade Standards guidance states that traders can support producer organisations directly or through a partnership. Examples include providing funding, sharing data, training, facilitating partnerships, and advocacy. (See the specific sections for requirement 3.4.4 in the Fairtrade Cocoa Standard, 3.1.5 in the Fairtrade Coffee Standard, and 3.3.2 and 3.3.3 in the Fairtrade Trader Standard.)

However, we assume that small and medium-sized companies that lack capacity and resources to implement their own actions will be interested in contributing to a Fairtrade programme.

That’s why a core principle of the planned “Protecting forests with fairness” programme is to give companies the possibility to invest in producer support, so they can use this investment as proof of compliance with the various requirements in the Fairtrade Standards.

Deforestation-free products and non-deforestation free products cannot be mixed under the EUDR. The EUDR allows product mixing only if all of the product being mixed is EUDR compliant.

Companies must have the necessary information (geolocation data etc.) from all farms that compose the batches they buy. If, for example, some cocoa in a batch of products was found to be non-compliant with the EUDR, and it could not be split out from compliant cocoa, then the whole batch will be non-compliant.

It is the choice and responsibility of a commercial partner which traceability model they wish to apply, e.g. buying products containing cocoa, or cocoa that is physically segregated, or mass balance with only EUDR-compliant cocoa. Certification, such as Fairtrade, cannot change the production process and cost of production that companies choose jointly with their suppliers.

Traceability options/chain of custody models in Fairtrade currently include:

• Identity preserved: A product can be traced along the supply chain back to the producer organisation or individual farmer. The identity preserved model is not yet explicitly mentioned in the Fairtrade Standards as an option, but can be applied on a voluntary basis. Opting for identity preserved traceability back to the producer organisation is possible for most Fairtrade coffee currently.
• Segregated: Products of two types are kept separate throughout the entire supply chain. E.g: Fairtrade and non-Fairtrade product, or EUDR compliant and non-EUDR compliant product. Physical segregation is mandatory for Fairtrade coffee, and possible for Fairtrade cocoa.
• Mass balance: For a few products, Fairtrade and non-Fairtrade products may be mixed during the manufacturing process. The volumes sold on Fairtrade terms are stringently tracked and audited through the supply chain, and companies can only label the equivalent amount of finished packaged product that they sourced on Fairtrade terms. Mass balance is only allowed for cocoa, cane sugar, fruit juice and tea, due to the typically complex global trade and manufacturing processes for these products. For Fairtrade cocoa, the most commonly chosen traceability model is mass balance.
• The Fairtrade Cocoa Standard includes requirements that producer organisations trace cocoa back to the farm from which it was purchased (“first mile traceability”, requirement 2.1.4), and that Fairtrade cocoa is kept physically segregated from any non-Fairtrade cocoa until the point of export (2.1.5). The latter takes effect as of 1 January 2025. In other words, traders will not be permitted to operate mass balance before point of export as of 2025.

Producer organisations have received an email from Fairtrade International to be informed about the process. Through the FairInsight tool, producer organisations have access to a Nextcloud folder where they can submit their data, receive feedback in case adjustments are necessary, and then retrieve deforestation guidance and templates. Producer organisations can reach out to their respective Producer Networks to receive support on preparing the information and submitting it to Fairtrade International.

Fairtrade International is facilitating the data transfer to and from Satelligence to generate the deforestation analysis.

For more information including guidance documents and videos in multiple languages, visit our resources page, or contact your Fairtrade producer network.

Under the Fairtrade Standards, certified cocoa and coffee producer organisations are required to submit their geolocation data to Fairtrade. Producer organisations are responsible for collecting their own geolocation data.

Monitoring is required under the Fairtrade Cocoa Standard and Fairtrade Coffee Standard as well, forming part of the risk assessments producer organisations must complete. We will share the Satelligence analysis with producer organisations, which they can then use as part of their risk assessments. They can also seek additional monitoring services on their own.

FLOCERT auditors will only refer to the analysis provided by Satelligence for checking compliance with deforestation and risk monitoring. Reports from other sources can be used as documentation for allegations on false alerts. The reason why FLOCERT prioritises Satelligence reports is to ensure standardisation of the assurance procedure.

If a risk of deforestation is found in Satelligence, the producer organisation receives this in the risk alert report. The producer organisation can then “ground truth” the alert, meaning go to the site and check whether the alert is valid or not. For the producer organisation to comply with the Fairtrade Standards, any members that have caused deforestation since the relevant cut-off date must be excluded from the organisation’s membership.

• Fairtrade risk map - insights on human rights and environmental risks of global commodities
• Fairtrade impact map - information on Fairtrade projects and studies, plus country-specific data on Fairtrade producers and sales

• Protecting forests with Fairtrade and the EUDR
• Protecting forests with Fairtrade coffee
• Protecting forests with Fairtrade cocoa
• Including smallholders in EU action to protect and restore the world’s forests (2021, co-author)
• An EU strategic framework for working with countries to achieve deforestation-free production (2023, co-author)

• The effect of Fairtrade on forest protection and deforestation prevention (2024)