The EU’s Deforestation Regulations (EUDR), set to become active in December 2024 will propose sanctions on trading commodities that are not deemed environmentally friendly. The so-called ‘green squeeze’ on certain products, particularly those that come from land deforested after December 31st 2020 has been met with mixed reactions in Least Developed Countries (LDCs), with concerns that agricultural exports could be hit hard. One new constraint declares that mixing compliant and non-compliant commodities (or commodities of unknown origin) will not be allowed on the EU market. This is one of many constraints that Rwanda and other countries will have to adapt to so that unnecessary additional costs and reduced trade with the EU market do not become a reality. Export volumes from Rwanda to the EU are expanding and have been growing consistently. Coffee and black tea are key export products; 46 Million Dollars’ worth of Rwandan tea and coffee is exported to the EU, one fifth of the total export value of these commodities. The EUDR specifically targets agricultural products like tea, coffee, cocoa, beef and others, as well as their derived products like leather, chocolate, and furniture. The EU strives to promote more sustainable long-term trade for LDCs - Therefore Rwanda and the EU must find a way to maintain Rwanda’s economic growth while achieving sustainable and climate conscious trade. Progress has already been made in preparing Rwanda’s response to the EUDR. Rwanda’s National Agricultural Export Development Board (NAEB), alongside beverage company JDE Peet and sustainability company, Enveritas, have committed to ‘collaboratively address’ any coffee production that may violate the EUDR mandate. In effect, smallholder farmers can be assured of continued access to the European market, because Rwanda plans to adopt the innovative strategy developed by the partnership and ensure its coffee is EUDR compliant. The exercise would include the identification of coffee plots grown on land deforested after December 2020. Such initiatives are essential in adapting to these new policies, and it is no surprise, then, that two other major exporters of coffee to the EU, Honduras and Peru, have committed to implementing JDE’s innovative strategy as well. The CEO of NAEB, Claude Bizimana, stated - “The new regulation presents Rwanda with a formidable challenge, and it’s imperative that we rise to meet it in the coming months”. No new regulation arrives without its complexities, swiftly adopting new strategies puts smallholder farmers and farmers alike in an optimal position to effectively adapt and respond to these EU measures. Taking a global perspective, the EU understands and outlines how critical it is to protect the world we all live in against climate change. Nonetheless, at a meeting in Moscow between the BRICS group, the South African Trade Minister, Parks Tua, expressed concern about the EU’s CBAM (Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism), and the disproportionate impact that it will have on developing nations as a whole. He stated, “Unilateral action on that front is unhelpful. We cannot just wake up one day and say ‘ok, these ones are not coming in’, because you are totally prejudicing the developing world”. Protecting our environment is a must, and Rwanda continues to show its commitment to playing its part in the fight against climate change. Rwanda has proven that it will not stand idle in the face of new measures, but will instead move with the times and adapt to change. The author is a student at the University of Leicester.
