Radar Verde União Europeia

As climate shocks increase food-security risks and Amazon deforestation further undermines rainfall and production stability, the Radar Verde report becomes essential for identifying where cattle supply chains remain exposed and where urgent action can reduce environmental and market risk. Against this backdrop, a practical question becomes more pressing: how can Brazil preserve market access, regulatory predictability, and commercial trust in its beef sector in an environment where traceability and product origin are becoming more relevant for export-oriented supply chains, especially those exposed to European requirements? The report’s central argument is that the beef sector should provide credible and transparent evidence on the implementation of zero-deforestation policies, with particular attention to indirect cattle suppliers. This would strengthen the sector’s position with European buyers, improve risk visibility for financiers, and expand implementation capacity for regulators in Brazil and Europe.

The report places this challenge in a context of rapid commercial and regulatory change. The European Union has become more relevant for Brazilian beef exports while raising the standard of proof required for compliance. In 2025, it imported 128.9 thousand tonnes of Brazilian beef, worth US$1.06 billion, a 132.8% increase over 2024. At the same time, the European Union Deforestation Regulation (EUDR) requires due diligence and geolocation-based controls for cattle and related products, including information on all establishments where animals were kept. As a result, verifiable origin has become increasingly important for sales continuity, access to higher-value markets, and regulatory risk management in the export segment.

Brazil already has important building blocks to meet these requirements, but they remain incomplete for deforestation-related due diligence. Since 2000, the European Union has required individual traceability for animals destined for slaughter, and Brazil’s SISBOV system, regulated by the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock, supports this sanitary traceability. In 2025, 1,234 farms were authorized to supply cattle to slaughterhouses exporting to the European Union. However, SISBOV identifies animals only up to 90 days before slaughter and does not consistently capture the full production trajectory when the farm of origin differs from the final fattening property. Under EUDR, compliance requires coupling this traceability with geolocation and land-use information across all establishments where the animal was kept.

The report’s evidence shows that this challenge has already reached meaningful scale. In 2025, 15 slaughterhouses owned by eight companies in the Legal Amazon, all located in Mato Grosso, were authorized to export to the European Union, with a combined capacity of 11,250 head per day. In 2024, there were 8 slaughterhouses, owned by 6 companies, with a capacity of 5,870 head per day. At the same time, the risk of new deforestation within their potential sourcing zones ranged from 31,000 to 2.8 million hectares. The report also states that 80% of slaughterhouses demonstrate some control over direct suppliers, yet none demonstrate robust evidence, such as external audits, of control over indirect suppliers. Overall, 87% of assessed units fell into the low-control category and 13% into the very low-control category.

The central vulnerability therefore lies in the indirect segment of the cattle supply chain, where animals may spend most of their lives before final fattening. This is the point at which deforestation risk becomes harder to exclude if monitoring covers only direct suppliers. Brazil has additional initiatives that can support progress, including the Rural Environmental Registry (CAR), the Animal Transit Guide (GTA), the National Program for the Individual Identification of Cattle and Buffalo (PNIB), AgroBrasil+Sustentável, Selo Verde platforms, and audits linked to the Conduct Adjustment Agreement (TAC). Yet the report shows that these systems still face important constraints. CAR remains self declared and unevenly validated. GTA tracks batch movements rather than individual animals, remains fragmented, is not publicly accessible, and is not systematically linked to environmental compliance. TAC audits have improved controls for direct purchases but do not provide independent assurance for indirect suppliers. In addition, PNIB becomes mandatory only from 2030, and Pará’s individual cattle traceability system, SRBIPA, has also been postponed to 2030.

In this context, Radar Verde adds value as a practical tool for decision-making and coordination to fast-track solutions. The platform translates company commitments into comparable signals of ambition, implementation, and transparency. Buyers can use it to screen suppliers and guide lower-risk sourcing. Financial institutions can use it to support credit analysis, investment decisions, and engagement with companies. Regulators can use it to focus enforcement, data-sharing agreements, and incentives where additional effort is likely to make the biggest difference. By comparing plants and companies, Radar Verde helps identify which actors are better positioned to adapt, which jurisdictions present lower deforestation risk, and where corrective action should be concentrated.