EUDR: from constraint to opportunity, rethinking competitiveness and global partnerships
On the occasion of the conference “Stop the Clock”, focused on corporate environmental commitments and organized by the University of Padova in collaboration with Etifor | Valuing Nature and Forema within the European EMMA4EU project, I participated in a roundtable discussion on the future of European sustainability policies.
The provocation I started from was simple: the Green Deal can still become a green opportunity.
EUDR: from constraint to opportunity, rethinking competitiveness and global partnerships
The EU Deforestation Regulation (EUDR) illustrates well the paradox Europe is currently facing. The objective, reducing deforestation linked to global supply chains, is legitimate and widely shared. However, the way the regulation has been designed risks turning a potentially transformative tool into a source of economic rigidity.
If conceived within a framework of creative destruction, in partnership with businesses, and embedded in a broader industrial strategy, EUDR could have become a platform to modernize supply chains, accelerate digitalization, increase agricultural productivity, and strengthen relationships with producing countries. In other words, it could have combined sustainability, growth, and geopolitics.
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That is not what has happened. The risk today is a shift from green ideology to economic conservatism, characterized by regulation that does not stimulate transformation but instead protects existing structures and generates uncertainty.
Yet reality also shows another possible dynamic. The palm oil sector, often portrayed as the problem, has, in several respects, transformed EUDR into an opportunity. Producing countries and companies have invested heavily in supply chain digitalization and traceability systems, and large parts of the sector are now substantially compliant or close to compliance. The main challenge concerns smallholders, but this is a manageable transition issue rather than a structural barrier.
This demonstrates a key principle: when incentives are clear, transformation happens.
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The central question, therefore, becomes political: how can EUDR be transformed from a constraint into an opportunity?
A shift in approach is needed. EUDR should be accompanied by industrial policy tools that support European companies in innovating, investing, and adapting; encourage the emergence of new technological startups; strengthen partnerships with producing countries; and integrate sustainability and competitiveness into a coherent strategy.
This also requires moving beyond the sterile ideological confrontation between environmental activism and corporatist conservatism. Sustainability should not become a symbolic battle, it must function as a driver of development.
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In this context, the Green Deal can still evolve into a genuine agenda for growth and competitiveness. Integrating it into Europe’s emerging industrial strategy, including forthcoming industrial acceleration initiatives, and into a geopolitical vision of global partnerships would allow the European Union to strengthen its international position while creating a true “archipelago” of value chains and cooperation.
Nothing is lost. But the time to adjust the course is not unlimited.
