EUDR: Grön fasad eller verklig förändring? : En kvalitativ studie om hur ensidiga miljöpolicys påverkar Brasilien, med klimatimperialism som analytiskt ramverk

The EU Deforestation Regulation (EUDR) is the European Union's latest addition to its Green Deal, aimed at combating climate change by regulating the import of products linked to deforestation. Through this regulation, the EU seeks to reduce global deforestation. Despite its promising goals, the EUDR has received strong criticism for its unilateral nature, particularly from Brazil, one of the countries most associated with deforestation due to cattle pasture expansion and soybean cultivation, and heavily affected by its implementation. This qualitative study examines how the EUDR is likely to affect Brazil’s cattle and soy value chains, based on interviews with relevant stakeholders. Our findings show that adapting to the regulation's due diligence requirements demands significant technical and financial resources. This tends to favor large-scale producers over smallholders, placing the latter in an even more vulnerable position. Several interviewees also voiced concern that the regulation may not lead to an actual reduction in deforestation, but instead shift the problem, either through diversion to other markets with lower sustainability standards or through increased land conversion in biomes not classified as forests under the EUDR, such as the Cerrado. While some respondents acknowledged that the regulation marks an important step toward global forest protection, others questioned its fairness and legitimacy. To explore this further, the study applies the concept of climate imperialism to analyze whether the EUDR reinforces unequal structures in global environmental governance. The study concludes that the EUDR reflects a broader trend of unilateral climate governance, where the Global North sets the terms and the Global South bears the burden of compliance. The regulation overlooks historical responsibility, reinforces dependency, excludes affected regions from decision-making, and imposes Northern definitions of sustainability, aligning with key characteristics of climate imperialism.