‘Forest 500’ Report Tracks Espresso Trade Deforestation Commitments

Whereas the looming EU Deforestation Regulation (EUDR) has been nudging company behavioral modifications in Europe, the espresso business stays among the many weakest performers on a number of key indicators of deforestation threat, in response to the 2026 version of the Forest 500 report from UK-based environmental NGO World Cover.

Now in its twelfth yr, the Forest 500 yearly assesses 500 corporations with the best affect over 9 forest-risk commodities — beef, cocoa, espresso, leather-based, palm oil, pulp and paper, rubber, soy and timber — based mostly solely on public disclosures on firm web sites.

It must be famous that World Cover has publicly argued towards additional EUDR delays and simplification. For the Forest 500 listing, the group names Local weather Arc and the Norwegian Company for Growth Cooperation (Norad) as monetary supporters. 

“Whereas some battles have been received, this yr’s Forest 500 knowledge reveals that the struggle towards deforestation continues to be being needlessly misplaced,” the report’s govt abstract states. “The yr 2025 was on the coronary heart of high-profile company targets to finish deforestation — however these have now been missed. As in earlier years, too few corporations are performing with sufficient urgency.”

Motion (and Inaction) Throughout Sectors

The report says 68 of the five hundred corporations, or 14%, cited the EUDR in public paperwork tied to deforestation motion. Individually, public proof of traceability mechanisms improved throughout eight of the 9 commodities.

Nonetheless, the report describes the EUDR itself as arriving “in a delayed and diluted kind” after the EU postponed utility to Dec. 30, 2026, for giant and medium operators and merchants, and to June 30, 2027, for micro and small operators.

Designed to forestall new deforestation in European provide chains, the regulation was adopted in 2023 with enforcement initially scheduled for the top of 2024. 

Espresso Sector Efficiency

For espresso particularly, the image is blended. The share of Forest 500 corporations with a public deforestation-free dedication for espresso rose to 47% in 2025, up from 44% in 2024. Espresso traceability mechanisms additionally improved to 18%, up from 14%.

Nonetheless, on one of the vital concrete measures — the share of corporations publicly reporting that greater than half their espresso volumes are deforestation- and conversion-free — espresso ranked close to the underside of the 9 commodities at simply 5%, down from 7% a yr earlier. Solely leather-based scored decrease, at 1%.

Leaders, Laggards and Backtrackers

The Forest 500 report offers every firm a share rating based mostly on what it publicly discloses by itself web site, with 25% of the rating tied to the power of its commitments and the opposite 75% tied to implementation, reporting and verification.

The report additionally types corporations into three broad classes: “Leaders” have sturdy deforestation commitments for all of the commodities they’re assessed for and report considerably stronger implementation than most; “Late Majority” corporations have signaled some intent to deal with deforestation however have made solely partial commitments and/or achieved weak progress on implementation; and “Laggards” don’t have any zero-deforestation or conversion commitments. Individually, the report says 14 corporations backtracked on deforestation motion, whereas 24 “persistent laggards” have did not publish any deforestation dedication since 2014.

Among the many coffee-relevant corporations highlighted, Nestlé is the one one within the “chief” group. It scored 71%, and the report says it disclosed that not less than 80% of its volumes in beef, espresso, palm oil, pulp and paper and soy had been deforestation- and conversion-free in 2025.

One coffee-specific firm seems within the report’s “laggard” class, Italian firm FinLav (23%). Vietnamese espresso firm Thang Loi Espresso Joint Inventory Firm is among the many 14 corporations the report identifies as “backtrackers.”

Amongst “late majority” corporations had been roasters/consumers similar to Starbucks (36%), JDE Peet’s (41%), Keurig Dr Pepper (26%) and JM Smucker (14%). On the buying and selling facet, the report additionally gave scores to Louis Dreyfus (65%), Neumann Kaffee Gruppe (45%), Ecom Agroindustrial (38%) and Sucafina (36%). 

The report captures solely a slice of the worldwide espresso business, and it evaluates what corporations publicly disclose on their very own web sites relatively than immediately verifying all on-the-ground efficiency.

The complete report is accessible from Forest 500.

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