Navigating the European Union Regulation on Deforestation-free products: Challenges for operators and traders
(2025) In IIIEE Master Thesis IMEM02 20251The International Institute for Industrial Environmental Economics
- Abstract
- Deforestation is one of the most significant environmental challenges, with close links to global issues such as biodiversity loss and climate change. The European Union Deforestation-free Products Regulation (EUDR) introduces rigorous due diligence obligations for companies placing forest-risk commodities and derived products on the European market, intending to halt global deforestation. Despite their central role in EUDR enforcement, the perspectives of European businesses towards the Regulation remain unexplored. The thesis aims to address this knowledge gap and facilitate a more informed implementation of EUDR requirements by practitioners and policymakers. Drawing on an adapted Information Processing Theory, complemented by... (More)
- Deforestation is one of the most significant environmental challenges, with close links to global issues such as biodiversity loss and climate change. The European Union Deforestation-free Products Regulation (EUDR) introduces rigorous due diligence obligations for companies placing forest-risk commodities and derived products on the European market, intending to halt global deforestation. Despite their central role in EUDR enforcement, the perspectives of European businesses towards the Regulation remain unexplored. The thesis aims to address this knowledge gap and facilitate a more informed implementation of EUDR requirements by practitioners and policymakers. Drawing on an adapted Information Processing Theory, complemented by Multi-tier Supply Chain Management theory, this study examines how EUDR operators and traders perceive and respond to the requirements of the Regulation’s compliance. It also investigates differences in compliance capacity across different commodities and levels of usage. A qualitative exploratory research design was employed, involving 23 semi-structured interviews with private companies and relevant stakeholders (including certification bodies, industry associations, NGOs, consultants and competent authorities), as well as 14 practitioner documents (position papers and webinars). The findings have been integrated into a conceptual framework, revealing five clusters of EUDR challenges and four groups of strategic responses adopted by companies to overcome these barriers and ensure EUDR compliance. Contrary to expectations, no significant differences in compliance challenges were found between companies with different levels of commodity usage. However, differences were observed between commodities, with wood supply chains benefiting from prior experience with the EU Timber Regulation and lower supply chain fragmentation. This highlights the uneven distribution of the burden across commodities. Additionally, SMEs were identified as being particularly vulnerable compared with large enterprises. Ultimately, this thesis contributes to research by providing empirical evidence of how the EUDR is operationalised at a company level and by offering practical recommendations to improve the effectiveness of EUDR enforcement for businesses and policymakers. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
http://lup.lub.lu.se/student-papers/record/9210033
- author
- Grishchenko, Iuliia LU
- supervisor
-
- Carl Dalhammar LU
- Lisa Heldt LU
- organization
- course
- IMEM02 20251
- year
- 2025
- type
- H2 - Master's Degree (Two Years)
- subject
- keywords
- EU Deforestation-free Products Regulation (EUDR), sustainable supply chain management, multi-tier supply chains, information processing theory, business, challenges, strategic responses
- publication/series
- IIIEE Master Thesis
- report number
- 2025:32
- ISSN
- 1401-9191
- language
- English
- id
- 9210033
- date added to LUP
- 2025-08-19 09:29:06
- date last changed
- 2025-08-19 09:29:06
@misc{9210033,
abstract = {{Deforestation is one of the most significant environmental challenges, with close links to global issues such as biodiversity loss and climate change. The European Union Deforestation-free Products Regulation (EUDR) introduces rigorous due diligence obligations for companies placing forest-risk commodities and derived products on the European market, intending to halt global deforestation. Despite their central role in EUDR enforcement, the perspectives of European businesses towards the Regulation remain unexplored. The thesis aims to address this knowledge gap and facilitate a more informed implementation of EUDR requirements by practitioners and policymakers. Drawing on an adapted Information Processing Theory, complemented by Multi-tier Supply Chain Management theory, this study examines how EUDR operators and traders perceive and respond to the requirements of the Regulation’s compliance. It also investigates differences in compliance capacity across different commodities and levels of usage. A qualitative exploratory research design was employed, involving 23 semi-structured interviews with private companies and relevant stakeholders (including certification bodies, industry associations, NGOs, consultants and competent authorities), as well as 14 practitioner documents (position papers and webinars). The findings have been integrated into a conceptual framework, revealing five clusters of EUDR challenges and four groups of strategic responses adopted by companies to overcome these barriers and ensure EUDR compliance. Contrary to expectations, no significant differences in compliance challenges were found between companies with different levels of commodity usage. However, differences were observed between commodities, with wood supply chains benefiting from prior experience with the EU Timber Regulation and lower supply chain fragmentation. This highlights the uneven distribution of the burden across commodities. Additionally, SMEs were identified as being particularly vulnerable compared with large enterprises. Ultimately, this thesis contributes to research by providing empirical evidence of how the EUDR is operationalised at a company level and by offering practical recommendations to improve the effectiveness of EUDR enforcement for businesses and policymakers.}},
author = {{Grishchenko, Iuliia}},
issn = {{1401-9191}},
language = {{eng}},
note = {{Student Paper}},
series = {{IIIEE Master Thesis}},
title = {{Navigating the European Union Regulation on Deforestation-free products: Challenges for operators and traders}},
year = {{2025}},
}