Here’s how the EU’s upcoming regulation on deforestation-free products (EUDR) will impact your fleet

The European Commission’s EUDR regulation aims to curb greenhouse gas emissions and boost global biodiversity by putting a stop to deforestation. We sat down with Romuald Houdoux, Michelin’s VP of Sustainability & Circular Economy, to understand what fleet owners need to know and how this regulation will impact their business.
 

The impact of the EUDR regulation on daily life

For fleet owners, staying on top of new regulations is an essential part of the job. Recently you may have already prepared yourself for the transition towards alternative fuels or the recent update of Tyre Pressure Monitoring Systems (TPMS) standards.

A new regulation will roll out across Europe and as consumers, we’ll experience first-hand the effects of the European Union Deforestation Regulation (EUDR regulations) even when we go to the supermarket. Whether buying chocolate, coffee or any consumer product that contains palm oil, you’ll likely see a change in packaging, marketing or even price.

The good news? All that change is for a good reason, the EU Deforestation Regulation aims to reduce greenhouse gas emissions resulting from deforestation and aid in the fight against global biodiversity loss.

How does the EU deforestation regulation protect our planet?

Regulators are taking a firm stance against deforestation by cracking down on the production and harvest of raw materials that have historically contributed to our environmental crisis. To ensure that products consumed by EU citizens no longer contribute to forest degradation worldwide, the European Commission implemented the EUDR regulations, which require companies to prove their operations are deforestation-free.

EUDR regulations: a catalyst for change

As you likely already know, tyre raw material is harvested on rubber tree farms, one of the many types of farmlands protected under this new regulation. The EU Commission has tasked consumer goods manufacturers like Michelin with collecting and reporting geolocation data from millions of farms where the natural rubber we buy comes from. This EUDR rubber data is crucial for verifying the legal production and traceability of the tyre composition such as natural rubber, ensuring it originates from deforestation-free sources and is segregated from natural rubber of unknown origin or non-deforestation-free sources.

The behind-the-scenes challenges of EUDR compliance

At Michelin, more than 85% of our natural rubber is sourced from a value chain⁽¹⁾ made up of millions of small, independent producers, many with just two to three hectares of land. This means that if your fleet is rolling on Michelin tyres, each one can contain rubber from tens of thousands of independent farms!⁽²⁾

Verifying that the traceability of our products meets these stringent standards requires significant investment both within the Michelin Group and by our suppliers, including high-resolution satellite data for accurate mapping. As an industry leader, we believe that it is our responsibility to champion fairness and eco-responsibility throughout our business.

At the same time, we are committed to working with the most vulnerable smallholders (small and remote farms) within our supply chains to avoid the risk of exclusion. Together with our natural rubber joint ventures and suppliers, Michelin began collecting the geographic coordinates as early as mid-2023, before the EUDR regulation came into application, to ensure a smooth transition and avoid any potential supply chain disruptions.