Deforestation-Free Supply Chains in Europe – EMMA4EU
Good to know
In short- Training programme
- EUDR implementation
- Frrom research to practice
Learn about this course
The European Commission has recently approved the EU Deforestation Regulation (EUDR), to ban the import of forest risk commodities produced on land (deforested after 2020). The EMMA4EU programme (2023-2026) is connecting different disciplines and sectors (profit + non-profit) to develop a training programme for a new profession: the “Deforestation-Free Supply Chains Manager”.
Directly apply what you learn to your own business
Study at the best agricultural university in the world from the comfort of your own home
Plenty of opportunities to ask questions and to interact with other learners
Explore the potential of nature to improve the quality of life
Content of the programme
The programme includes several components for students and for professionals: e-learning modules, training courses and workshops. Those applicable to professionals will be presented here below.
- Find your way through the obstacles companies face when working according to EUDR.
- Learn from recent research and from practice.
- Meet your fellow sustainability officers, purchasing and regulatory affairs officers of food and feed companies, consultants and specialists at (semi-) governments who deal with supply chain risks and the new EUDR.
Costs € 35 / Thu 25 September 2025
January 20, 2026: The “EUDR – National Awareness Conference” at Utrecht
Businesses (importing-, trading- and manufacturing companies), consumer organisations, academia, NGO’s, policymakers, custom and enforcement agency .. we bring all actors to the table.
This afternoon will be filled with top speakers and workshops around the topic of implementing EUDR and its goal: deforestation free supply chains in Europa.
Fee : € 20,- for registration and administration (this conference is financed by the programme EMMA4EU)
Start : 13:00 (open: 12:30)
End : 17:00 with drinks and bites
Venue : The Impact Factory – Utrecht (7 minutes walking distance from Utrecht Central Station)
Additional information
Deforestation significantly contributes to climate change and biodiversity loss in tropical countries. The primary driver of this deforestation is the expansion of agricultural land for producing specific commodities such as cattle, wood, palm oil, soy, cocoa, coffee, leather and rubber (the so-called “forest-risk commodities” – FRCs). According to the FAO Global Forest Resources Assessment 2020, an estimated 420 million hectares of forest were deforested worldwide between 1990 and 2020, with a rate of 10 million hectares per year from 2015 to 2020.
The European Union (EU) is the second-largest importer of commodity-driven deforestation and is responsible for 16% of the global embedded deforestation. Efforts to reduce such rates face many challenges, such as lack of transparency, limited practical effectiveness, and conceptual difficulties regarding terminology and definitions. Existing regulatory mechanisms need to be more cohesive and effective.
To overcome these challenges, the European Commission (EC) has recently published the Deforestation-free Products Regulation, which seeks to ban imports and exports from the EU of FRCs produced on deforested or degraded land after 2020.There needs to be more coverage in EU higher level and adult education and training institutions and their curricula of topics related to and including this new regulation and associated policies and tools. This challenges the path to successful implementation of the regulation. Public, private and tertiary sector actors in the EU dealing with FRCs need to be prepared and equipped for a deforestation-free future.
Partners in the Alliance:
- ETIFOR - Padova, Italy
- Universita Degli Studi Di Padova (UNIPD), Padova, Italy
- Wageningen University & Research (WUR), Wageningen, Netherlands
- Societa A Responsabilita Limitata (FOREMA), Padova, Italy
- Stichting AidEnvironment (AE), Amsterdam, Netherlands
- Makerere University (MU), Kampala, Uganda
- Nepcon Fmba (NEPCON), Kobenhavn, Denmark
- Copenhagen Business School (CBS), Frederiksberg, Denmark
- Albert-Ludwigs-Universitaet Freiburg (UFR), Freiburg, Germany
- OpenForests UG, Krefeld, Germany