Background
German companies obtain a large number of resources for production and further processing from the tropics. Where exactly these come from and what consequences this has for the extracting and cultivating countries is currently largely not tracked at all or only inadequately. In particular, agricultural use for the cultivation of goods for export to industrialized countries is in many places associated with prior direct or indirect deforestation due to land use changes. Since tropical rainforests in particular are among the largest CO2 reservoirs on earth, their deforestation has been shown to accelerate climate change. Deforestation is the second largest anthropogenic driver of climate change and 29 - 39 percent of deforestation is caused by international trade. Deforestation is responsible for approximately 15 percent of the total carbon footprint of food consumption in the European Union.
Preventing deforestation in the supply chain of German companies is a major lever to reduce emissions. However, there is currently a lack of a clear definition of deforestation to guide German SMEs. Similarly, there are initial tools and studies to increase transparency in the supply chain, but often only for certain products, such as soybeans or palm oil.