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How Orbify Determines EUDR Deforestation Compliance

Written by Laura Cassone
Updated over 3 weeks ago

Compliance with the EU Deforestation Regulation (EUDR) requires operators to demonstrate that commodities are deforestation-free. Orbify supports this requirement through a conservative, transparent geospatial assessment focused specifically on Article 3(a) of the regulation.

Scope of the Compliance Score

Orbify’s automated compliance score evaluates only the deforestation-free requirement. It does not assess legality, land tenure, or social safeguards, which must be addressed separately as part of broader due diligence.

The compliance score is derived from three deforestation-specific datasets:

  • Forest cover in 2020

  • Deforestation since 2020

  • Deforestation alerts

Step-by-Step Assessment Methodology

  1. Forest cover baseline (December 2020)
    Orbify first establishes whether forest cover existed within the plot boundaries as of December 2020, which is the EUDR cut-off date.

  2. Annual deforestation analysis
    If forest cover is present, Orbify evaluates whether deforestation has occurred within that forest area from 2020 up to the end of the most recent complete year. Annual datasets are used because they allow full verification across all satellite imagery available for that year, increasing confidence in the results.

  3. Recent deforestation alerts
    Finally, Orbify assesses deforestation alerts between the end of the latest annual dataset and the present day to capture very recent activity.

Each of these steps produces an individual result and explanation, ensuring transparency in how the final compliance outcome is reached.

Compliance Outcomes

Likely compliant

  • No forest cover detected in December 2020

  • Stable forest cover maintained since 2020

Likely non-compliant

  • Forest loss detected since December 2020

  • Forest degradation detected since December 2020 (timber only)

  • Both deforestation and degradation detected since 2020 (timber only)

Recommended manual inspection

  • Forest loss below 1% of the plot’s forest area

  • Deforestation alerts detected after the annual dataset cut-off date

Only these deforestation-related findings influence the final compliance score.

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