On 6 December 2022, the EU reached an agreement on a new law to prevent companies from placing commodities linked with deforestation and forest degradation, onto the EU market, or exporting them from the EU. Deforestation and forest degradation are important drivers of climate change and biodiversity loss – two key environmental challenges of our time.
At Silbury we are committed to complying with the European Deforestation Regulations, known as EUDR. We are passionate about reducing our impact and have a robust ESG programme that is focused across our supply chains to take action.
We are regular attendees at the Sustainable Commodities Initiative (SCI) meetings and use the information from these sessions to brief colleagues across our business on how the wider industry is preparing itself for the forthcoming deadlines. We understand the value of collaboration on topics such as this and use our convening power to bring our supplier and customer partners together.
Our position within the supply chain sees that we are not the first actor to put the in- scope commodities onto the market, meaning that we identify as a trader for the purposes of EUDR. Out of the seven commodities detailed within the regulations (soy, beef, palm oil, wood, cocoa, coffee, rubber), Silbury is a trader of Palm oil (& palm derivatives) and Soy (including embedded Soy in animal feed).
We supply products and commodities from major European importers and have engaged with all of them to set our expectation that all products that we purchase from them will be EUDR compliant ahead of the Dec 2024 deadline. We have received responses to all of our enquiries which gives us confidence in our supply chain’s commitment to this legislation.
We will only supply EUDR compliant commodities in line with the regulatory deadline (if not sooner) and will provide the appropriate due diligence to support this. We stay closely attuned to the work of the UK Soy manifesto and their work to support physical traceability as required by EUDR. We are aware of the specific detail of the regulations with regards to embedded Soy through animal feed and are currently working with our suppliers to achieve greater transparency of this commodity. Although we supply products that contain animal fats, these are considered by-products and therefore not covered by the EUDR.
At Silbury we supply Palm Oil which has a minimum certification standard of Round Table on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO) Segregated (SG) and have been members since 2010. We actively engage withthe RSPO, frequently attending meetings and briefings to keep aligned with their latest progress. This includes monthly Members Meetings as well as attending Sustainable Palm Oil Discussion (SPOD) in 2024. Our position is to advocate for sustainable palm oil, believing that greater understanding will lead to improved decision making with regards to this key commodity.
We are active members of the National Edible Oil Distributors Association (NEODA) and use this membership to maintain further alignment with industry best practices. In summary we are confident that we are taking the necessary actions to prepare our business for compliance to the EUDR. We will host this document on our public facing website, making updates and amendments as further progress is made.
