Ensuring EUDR benchmarking reflects human rights and environmental risks

A joint letter from various NGOs urging the European Commission to ensure the EUDR benchmarking process is based on objective risk criteria rather than political factors or sanctions.

• The authors express concern that the European Commission may be politicising the benchmarking process, noting that the Commission anticipated most countries would be rated low risk before finalising the methodology or benchmarking any country.
• The signatories argue that high-risk status must not be limited to countries under UN or EU sanctions, as the EUDR requires risk determination to be based primarily on deforestation rates, agricultural expansion, and production trends.
• The letter contends that the Commission's current approach may only consider human rights violations and illegality in an optional 'further assessment', whereas these should be evaluated from the outset for all regions to capture real risks of non-compliance.
• The authors claim the proposed benchmarking methodology fails to adequately include forest degradation and production trends for all covered commodities, contrary to the requirements of Article 29(3) of the EUDR.
• The document warns that the EU-Mercosur Agreement may undermine objective risk classification if the Commission is obligated to 'favourably consider' the agreement when determining the risk status of Mercosur countries.

APA

ClientEarth (2025). Ensuring EUDR benchmarking reflects human rights and environmental risks. https://www.clientearth.org/media/3dqn5gud/joint-letter-benchmarking-eudr-c280125.pdf

Chicago

ClientEarth. Ensuring EUDR benchmarking reflects human rights and environmental risks. 2025. https://www.clientearth.org/media/3dqn5gud/joint-letter-benchmarking-eudr-c280125.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite press release |author=ClientEarth |title=Ensuring EUDR benchmarking reflects human rights and environmental risks |date=28 January 2025 |url=https://www.clientearth.org/media/3dqn5gud/joint-letter-benchmarking-eudr-c280125.pdf |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@misc{clientearth2025ensuring, author = {{ClientEarth}}, title = {{Ensuring EUDR benchmarking reflects human rights and environmental risks}}, publisher = {ClientEarth}, year = {2025}, month = jan, url = {https://www.clientearth.org/media/3dqn5gud/joint-letter-benchmarking-eudr-c280125.pdf}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }