{"id":22584,"date":"2026-05-29T09:50:19","date_gmt":"2026-05-29T07:50:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.etifor.com\/en\/?p=22584"},"modified":"2026-06-26T11:22:09","modified_gmt":"2026-06-26T09:22:09","slug":"deforestation-made-in-italy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.etifor.com\/en\/publications\/deforestation-made-in-italy\/","title":{"rendered":"Deforestation made in Italy<\/span>"},"content":{"rendered":"

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The goal of the report “Deforestation Made in Italy. The responsibilities of Italian companies and consumers in global deforestation”<\/em> is to shed light on the responsibilities that global trade supply chains cast on tropical forests. Following the first edition published in 2020, we have updated and expanded the analysis together with the University of Padua, in light of new available data and the changed European regulatory context.<\/p>\n

This new edition – produced also thanks to the work carried out within the European project EMMA4EU<\/a>, funded by the Erasmus+ programme\u00a0– estimates the impacts embedded in Italian consumption of seven product categories<\/strong>: coffee, beef and bovine hides, palm oil, natural rubber, soy, wood and derived products, and cocoa. The analysis covers the period 2005\u20132023 and follows the framework of Annex I of the EUDR Regulation.<\/strong> The result is an updated picture of embedded deforestation, carbon emissions, and biodiversity impacts. Because even when forests are lost thousands of kilometres away, the chain that leads there often starts from our shelves.<\/p>\n

Alongside deforestation<\/a> processes – that is, the conversion of forests into other land uses such as agricultural areas, pastures, or urban areas \u2014 the report also examines forest degradation:<\/strong> the progressive reduction of the ecological integrity and functionality of forests, with the consequent loss of their capacity to provide essential products and services for local communities and the global climate.<\/p>\n<\/div>

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594.000 ha<\/h2><\/span>
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\u00a0forests at risk\u00a0(2005 – 2023)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div>

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100 m\u00b2<\/h2><\/span>
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of forest at risk per inhabitant (2005\u20132023)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div>

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9,45 Mt CO\u2082<\/h2><\/span>
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average annual emissions attributable to Italy<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div>

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3\u00b0 in UE<\/h2><\/span>
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\u00a0for embedded deforestation per capita<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>

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The Context: Half a Billion Hectares Lost<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>

According to the FAO’s Global Forest Resources Assessment 2025<\/em><\/a>, forests today cover approximately 4.14 billion hectares,<\/strong> equivalent to 32% of the world’s land area. Despite a slowdown in the annual rate of loss, between 1990 and 2025 nearly 0.49 billion hectares of forest were lost<\/strong> – an area equivalent to 16 times the surface of Italy.<\/strong> The main driver of this loss in tropical areas is permanent industrial agriculture<\/strong>, linked to the very products analysed in this report. The EU (and Italy with it) imports, consumes, and processes large quantities of these raw materials, bearing direct responsibility for the forests of other continents.<\/p>\n<\/div>

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Italy <\/b><\/span><\/strong>in Third Place in Europe<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>

The data show that Italian consumption of the seven products analysed put a total of approximately 594,000 hectares<\/strong> of forest at risk over the period studied \u2014 an area comparable to the entire province of Rome. On average, this corresponds to over 31,000 hectares per year,<\/strong> equivalent to around 45,000 football pitches.<\/p>\n

In per capita terms: each Italian citizen is responsible, on average, for 100 m\u00b2 of embedded deforestation over the entire period examined –<\/strong>\u00a0about the size of an apartment. This figure places Italy twentieth in the world and third in the European Union, behind Germany and Spain.<\/p>\n

The average associated climate impact is estimated at 9.45 million tonnes of CO\u2082 per year<\/strong>, equal to 2.5% of national emissions – equivalent to the emissions produced by over 2 million cars driven for a full year, roughly 5% of Italy’s vehicle fleet.<\/p>\n<\/div>

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The Most Involved, <\/span><\/strong>products<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>

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Although with a marked decline over the years, palm oil<\/strong> remains the category associated with the highest risk, at nearly 201,800 hectares, 34% of the total. It is followed by beef and bovine hides, soy, wood and derived products, and cocoa. The contribution of coffee and natural rubber is more marginal, though not negligible.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n