DUBAI – Qahwa World

The European Union’s landmark Deforestation Regulation (EUDR) is driving corporate change across Europe, yet the coffee sector remains one of the weakest performers on key deforestation-risk indicators, according to the 2026 edition of the Forest 500 report released by UK-based environmental NGO Global Canopy.

Now in its 12th year, the annual Forest 500 assessment ranks 500 companies with the greatest influence over nine forest-risk commodities: beef, cocoa, coffee, leather, palm oil, pulp and paper, rubber, soy, and timber, using only publicly available information disclosed on company websites.

Global Canopy has publicly opposed further delays or simplifications to the EUDR. The Forest 500 initiative is supported by Climate Arc and the Norwegian Agency for Development Cooperation (Norad).

“While some battles have been won, this year’s Forest 500 data shows that the fight against deforestation is still being needlessly lost,” the report’s executive summary states. “The year 2025 was at the heart of high-profile corporate targets to end deforestation, but these have now been missed. As in previous years, too few companies are acting with enough urgency.”

Limited Progress Across Sectors

Just 68 of the 500 companies (14%) referenced the EUDR in their public deforestation-related disclosures. Traceability mechanisms showed improvement across eight of the nine commodities. However, the report describes the EUDR as arriving “in a delayed and diluted form” following the EU’s decision to postpone enforcement to December 30, 2026 for large and medium operators and traders, and June 30, 2027 for micro and small operators.

The regulation, adopted in 2023 and originally scheduled for late 2024 enforcement, aims to block deforestation-linked products from entering European supply chains.

Mixed Results for Coffee

The coffee sector delivered a mixed performance. The share of Forest 500 companies with a public deforestation-free commitment for coffee rose to 47% in 2025, up from 44% the year before. Public evidence of traceability systems also improved, climbing to 18% from 14%.

Yet on one of the report’s most concrete metrics, the percentage of companies publicly reporting that more than half their coffee volumes are deforestation- and conversion-free, coffee ranked near the bottom of all nine commodities at just 5%, down from 7% in 2024. Only leather scored lower, at 1%.

How Companies Are Scored and Categorized

Each company receives a percentage score: 25% based on the strength of its commitments and 75% on implementation, reporting, and verification.

The report groups companies into three categories:

  • Leaders: Strong commitments across all relevant commodities and significantly stronger implementation than peers.
  • Late Majority: Some intent to address deforestation, but only partial commitments and weak implementation progress.
  • Laggards: No zero-deforestation or conversion-free commitments at all.

Separately, the report identifies 14 companies that backtracked on deforestation action and 24 “persistent laggards” that have failed to publish any deforestation commitment since 2014.

Coffee Sector Standouts

Among coffee-relevant companies, Nestlé is the only Leader highlighted, scoring 71%. The company disclosed that at least 80% of its volumes in beef, coffee, palm oil, pulp and paper, and soy were deforestation- and conversion-free in 2025.

Italian firm FinLav appears in the Laggard category with a 23% score. Vietnamese coffee company Thang Loi Coffee Joint Stock Company is listed among the 14 backtrackers.

Several major roasters and buyers fall into the Late Majority: Starbucks (36%), JDE Peet’s (41%), Keurig Dr Pepper (26%), and JM Smucker (14%). On the trading side, scores include Louis Dreyfus (65%), Neumann Kaffee Gruppe (45%), Ecom Agroindustrial (38%), and Sucafina (36%).

Important Context

The Forest 500 captures only a slice of the global coffee industry and evaluates companies solely on what they publicly disclose on their own websites; it does not independently verify on-the-ground performance.

The full 2026 Forest 500 report is available at forest500.org.