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From pastures to plates: The thorny path to achieving deforestation-free cattle from Brazil to European consumers

Vaccarezza Sevilla, Matías LU ; Pedreira Lucchese, Gino LU ; Krause, Torsten LU and Garcia Alarcon, Gisele (2025) In Ecological Economics 230.
Abstract
The EU regulation on Deforestation-Free Products (EUDR) enacted in 2023 aims to reduce deforestation connected to commodities imported to the EU, including cattle products. In Brazil, the EUDR pressures the local cattle supply chain towards more sustainable production. However, the potential effects of the EUDR on reducing deforestation in this sector are unclear and require scrutiny. Drawing on the concept of Telecoupling, we investigate the challenges and potential impacts of implementing the EUDR in the Brazilian cattle supply chain. We interviewed 19 Brazilian stakeholders representing the private sector, NGOs, investigative journals, banks, and governmental institutions through semi-structured questionnaires complemented with... (More)
The EU regulation on Deforestation-Free Products (EUDR) enacted in 2023 aims to reduce deforestation connected to commodities imported to the EU, including cattle products. In Brazil, the EUDR pressures the local cattle supply chain towards more sustainable production. However, the potential effects of the EUDR on reducing deforestation in this sector are unclear and require scrutiny. Drawing on the concept of Telecoupling, we investigate the challenges and potential impacts of implementing the EUDR in the Brazilian cattle supply chain. We interviewed 19 Brazilian stakeholders representing the private sector, NGOs, investigative journals, banks, and governmental institutions through semi-structured questionnaires complemented with secondary data analysis. Our findings reveal the extent to which historical challenges, such as the lack of law enforcement and low productivity persist, and the possible spillover effects, including market and production leakages. Additionally, the study shows how the EUDR may lead to potential negative impacts for small-scale ranchers. We highlight the need to implement a transparent and integrated public birth-to-slaughter traceability system for cattle in Brazil to guarantee the EUDR's effectiveness. If European and Brazilian governments, cattle producers, and meatpacking companies are not able to address these issues, EUDR's objective to reduce deforestation will be difficult to achieve. (Less)
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author
; ; and
organization
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
keywords
European union deforestation-free regulation (EUDR) Deforestation-free commodities Cattle supply chain Traceability Telecoupling International governance
in
Ecological Economics
volume
230
pages
13 pages
publisher
Elsevier
external identifiers
  • scopus:85214949427
ISSN
0921-8009
DOI
10.1016/j.ecolecon.2025.108524
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
b12f6f16-87e7-414a-8b4c-c4828abfe834
date added to LUP
2025-01-17 10:31:31
date last changed
2025-04-04 14:00:33
@article{b12f6f16-87e7-414a-8b4c-c4828abfe834,
  abstract     = {{The EU regulation on Deforestation-Free Products (EUDR) enacted in 2023 aims to reduce deforestation connected to commodities imported to the EU, including cattle products. In Brazil, the EUDR pressures the local cattle supply chain towards more sustainable production. However, the potential effects of the EUDR on reducing deforestation in this sector are unclear and require scrutiny. Drawing on the concept of Telecoupling, we investigate the challenges and potential impacts of implementing the EUDR in the Brazilian cattle supply chain. We interviewed 19 Brazilian stakeholders representing the private sector, NGOs, investigative journals, banks, and governmental institutions through semi-structured questionnaires complemented with secondary data analysis. Our findings reveal the extent to which historical challenges, such as the lack of law enforcement and low productivity persist, and the possible spillover effects, including market and production leakages. Additionally, the study shows how the EUDR may lead to potential negative impacts for small-scale ranchers. We highlight the need to implement a transparent and integrated public birth-to-slaughter traceability system for cattle in Brazil to guarantee the EUDR's effectiveness. If European and Brazilian governments, cattle producers, and meatpacking companies are not able to address these issues, EUDR's objective to reduce deforestation will be difficult to achieve.}},
  author       = {{Vaccarezza Sevilla, Matías and Pedreira Lucchese, Gino and Krause, Torsten and Garcia Alarcon, Gisele}},
  issn         = {{0921-8009}},
  keywords     = {{European union deforestation-free regulation (EUDR) Deforestation-free commodities Cattle supply chain Traceability Telecoupling International governance}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  month        = {{01}},
  publisher    = {{Elsevier}},
  series       = {{Ecological Economics}},
  title        = {{From pastures to plates: The thorny path to achieving deforestation-free cattle from Brazil to European consumers}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ecolecon.2025.108524}},
  doi          = {{10.1016/j.ecolecon.2025.108524}},
  volume       = {{230}},
  year         = {{2025}},
}