Achieving compliance with EUDR: Does a Berlin-based startup have the answer?
The German company uses a blend of satellite data and machine learning to monitor global assets and activities. In August 2022, it raised €19m (US$20.77m) on the back of strong demand for its tech from players in the transportation and energy infrastructure arenas.
TradeAware Lite allows users to easily input an unlimited number of geolocations from their sourcing farms and receive instant risk indications based on a smart combination of established datasets on forest cover, according to LiveEO’s director of marketing, Andreas Naujoks.
The company said it recognizes the pressing need for companies to comply with the EUDR.
Getting started with TradeAware lite is a risk-free way to receive instant context around deforestation in one's supply chain, a functionality that has so far only been available in high-cost market solutions, claims Naujoks.
We ran a Q&A with the marketing director on the benefits for users of its new EUDR compliance tool:
What specific functionalities does TradeAware Lite offer?
TradeAware Lite provides an instant deforestation risk status (Low/Medium/High) on added plots of land based on open-source deforestation data. The platform currently uses the EU's 2020 forest cover base map. We will be adding more data sets.
How are geolocations from sourcing farms inputted into TradeAware Lite, and what kind of risk indications can users expect to receive?
Users can upload geolocations as GeoJSON files or draw them on the maps directly. We will soon add a feature that allows users to delegate the input of geolocations to their suppliers.
What scale of feed company or other commodity buyer would benefit from this free software?
Any scale really, as it is a free entry point. For larger companies with more supplier-buyer relationships and more complex supply chains, an upgrade to our paid versions Professional and Enterprise is advisable, as they allow for cross-organization collaboration, generation of the EUDR due diligence statements, or API access.
Could you elaborate on the susceptibility to inaccuracies in open-source data sets and how TradeAware Lite addresses or mitigates this issue?
We are fully aware of the inaccuracies of open-source data sets for deforestation assessment in many parts of the world. We do believe the open-source data can provide organizations valuable context around the supply chain and to get started, which is why we are giving away this functionality for free, while other companies offer the same value as a paid product.
We mitigate this issue by offering our proprietary precision analytics to customers who chose to upgrade to our premium versions TradeAware Professional or Enterprise.
Paid versions of TradeAware cover the entire process for EUDR compliance: the geolocation collection, the deforestation assessment, collecting legal evidence for articles 9 and 10 via questionnaire, creating of the due diligence, legality check of the documents, submission to the authorities. This means that companies don't need to ‘stitch together’ different solutions - TradeAware solves EUDR end-to-end.
How does LiveEO plan to gather and incorporate user feedback into the continuous enhancement of TradeAware Lite during the beta phase?
We encourage user feedback, as we are developing the solution and will quickly add additional functionality.
Can you elaborate on LiveEO's commitment to helping businesses navigate compliance challenges and how it aligns with the launch of TradeAware Lite?
We believe access to open-source data sets, which some of our competitors offer as paid products, should be free. We are offering a paid end-to-end solution with high-precision analytics that will help businesses get through EUDR with minimal supply chain disruptions. We believe our free product is a great entry-point for companies getting ready for compliance.
