The EU Deforestation Regulation: Challenges, Opportunities and the Potential Impacts on the Producing Countries of Cocoa and Coffee

ABSTRACT The European Union Deforestation Regulation (EUDR) is a policy that prohibits access to the EU market for commodities that are linked to deforestation. We did a systematic review to understand perceived challenges, opportunities and potential impacts of the EUDR on producing countries of cocoa and coffee. The challenges include national laws that are incompatible with the EUDR, a lack of awareness and technical capacity, map misclassifications, and the burden on smallholder farmers. The opportunities include setting standards for fairer prices, improving human rights, and strengthening local collaboration and capacity building. The potential impacts are linked to country‐level legal alignments with the regulation and required investments to comply with the EUDR. The EUDR could become an incentive for more similar policies and more environmental policies at different levels. The EUDR might initially bring a financial burden to invest in formalising environmental compliance, but long‐term financial, economic and social benefits are expected.