EU imports of agricultural commodities continue to drive substantial global deforestation with cocoa and oil palm being the main culprits, new Trase research shows. Our analysis reveals striking differences between countries in deforestation exposure and the products responsible as they prepare to implement the regulation on deforestation-free products (EUDR). From 30 December 2024, EU member states will implement the regulation on deforestation-free products (EUDR), which will require companies to provide evidence that imports of several forest-risk commodities were not produced on recently deforested land. Trase was commissioned by civil society group Fern to assess the deforestation exposure of each EU member state and create a summary factsheet for each that highlights its exposure to deforestation from imports of products included in the EUDR. Between 2019 and 2021, the EU was exposed to 190,500 hectares (ha) of deforestation on average every year from its direct imports – an area more than ten times the size of Brussels. Over this period, EU imports were associated with 15.0% of the global deforestation linked to direct trade. The top countries of origin for EU exposure were Côte d’Ivoire (19.9%), Brazil (16.0%), Indonesia (11.6%), Ghana (8.7%) and Malaysia (4.7%), which together account for 61% of the EU’s total deforestation exposure.EU imports of agricultural commodities continue to drive substantial global deforestation with cocoa and oil palm being the main culprits, new Trase research shows. Our analysis reveals striking differences between countries in deforestation exposure and the products responsible as they prepare to implement the regulation on deforestation-free products (EUDR). From 30 December 2024, EU member states will implement the regulation on deforestation-free products (EUDR), which will require companies to provide evidence that imports of several forest-risk commodities were not produced on recently deforested land. Trase was commissioned by civil society group Fern to assess the deforestation exposure of each EU member state and create a summary factsheet for each that highlights its exposure to deforestation from imports of products included in the EUDR. Between 2019 and 2021, the EU was exposed to 190,500 hectares (ha) of deforestation on average every year from its direct imports – an area more than ten times the size of Brussels. Over this period, EU imports were associated with 15.0% of the global deforestation linked to direct trade. The top countries of origin for EU exposure were Côte d’Ivoire (19.9%), Brazil (16.0%), Indonesia (11.6%), Ghana (8.7%) and Malaysia (4.7%), which together account for 61% of the EU’s total deforestation exposure.