CLEVER’s Pathways From Global Trade to Biodiversity Policy Action

on September 9, 2025

What does it take to make Europe’s global trade truly sustainable for biodiversity? At the Mainstreaming Biodiversity for Policy Making conference in Brussels, CLEVER presented insights from three years of research on how EU trade and consumption affect ecosystems worldwide. Our work focuses on three main areas: the Brazilian soy value chain, timber from Cameroon, Brazil, and Gabon, and aquaculture in Vietnam. These commodities are expanding into ecologically sensitive regions, driving deforestation, threatening biodiversity, and impacting local communities.

As the EU Deforestation Regulation (EUDR) begins to take effect, CLEVER engaged with policymakers, civil society, and scientists to share evidence and tools—such as biodiversity indicators, trade analysis, and policy evaluation—that can help identify leverage points for reducing Europe’s biodiversity footprint.

For CLEVER, the event marked a milestone in a longer journey of collaboration, innovation, and systems thinking. As part of the Horizon Europe Cluster on Transformative Change for Biodiversity, our work goes beyond understanding impacts to shaping solutions toward more sustainable and equitable trade.

Measuring and quantifying biodiversity impacts

To design effective policies, we first need clear evidence of how trade affects nature. CLEVER tackled this challenge by developing tools that make biodiversity impacts visible and measurable. Partners from UFMG shared progress on biodiversity loss and endemism projections in Brazil, taking into account uncertainties such as climate change and mitigation policies. This forward-looking approach helps anticipate future risks, making it possible to design policies that are both preventive and adaptive.

Another highlight was an innovative spatially explicit framework, developed by our partners at UPV and BC3, which pinpoints the biodiversity and environmental impacts of Brazilian soybean exports with remarkable precision. This tool not only identifies the municipalities where soybean production is most harmful but also reveals which importing countries bear the greatest responsibility for species decline. Such insights are crucial for policymakers, enabling them to target the most impactful points in the supply chain.

By making these connections clear, CLEVER provides the scientific foundation for policies that can truly reduce Europe’s global biodiversity footprint.

Leverage points and governance implications

The EUDR formed a pertinent case in the different talks. A clear message that came through the presentations was that leverage points for the governance of commodity supply chains exist and must be tackled in multiple areas. This includes ensuring coherence of policies related to the production and trade of forest and agricultural commodities between supply-and demand-side countries. Also, transnational regulations like the EUDR should build on international cooperation in order to maximize its impacts and avoid outcomes that see companies merely seeking technical compliance and reshuffling their supply chains instead of adopting measures that truly tackle deforestation.

Building on these insights, CLEVER released a research output in August 2025 summarizing policy recommendations through the Innovation Action Pool. This initiative identifies governance innovations that can be scaled up to create sustainable supply chains that protect biodiversity while ensuring fair production practices. The report targets state actors and business associations in both producing and consuming countries. Based on stakeholder input, the Innovation Action Pool focuses on adapting and scaling proven governance models rather than introducing entirely new instruments, prioritizing inclusiveness and context-specific solutions that respond to real stakeholder needs.

Reducing EU footprints in the world

The real challenge is turning this knowledge into practical, fair, and effective action. During the panel discussion at the conference, experts from policy, science, and civil society highlighted solutions that are already showing promise: regenerative agriculture, traceability systems, payments for ecosystem services, and innovative financing tools for smallholders. These align with CLEVER’s emphasis on systemic change, but achieving lasting progress requires more than isolated interventions. Strong policy coherence, cross-sector collaboration, and political commitment are essential to move from insights to meaningful, system-level implementation.

Engaging People, Amplifying Impact

To maximise outreach and impact, CLEVER placed strong emphasis on stakeholder engagement and communication throughout the project. Online and in-person workshops and interviews with stakeholders from Europe, Brazil, Cameroon and Gabon brought together local actors across sectors, ensuring that the voices of those most affected by biodiversity loss were reflected in our work. Stakeholder input gathered through these activities directly shaped the content, design, and priorities of the project outputs, such as the Innovation Action Pool, by grounding it in the lived realities, sectoral knowledge, and practical constraints described by those working in the commodity supply chains.

Communication was also key to impact, with researchers receiving training that supported their active involvement in producing outputs like the project video and “Four key narratives on global trade, forests, and policy” that made our work more accessible.

Amid data and policies, storytelling emerged during the event as a vital tool for driving change. By connecting emotionally to biodiversity, stories amplify local voices and inspire action. Combined with CLEVER’s research, they will inform a joint policy brief with concrete recommendations for EU and international decision-makers. Moving forward, we remain committed to advancing biodiversity-sensitive trade and governance as the foundation for a just and sustainable global economy.

CLEVER’s achievements and outputs reflect the combined efforts of its full consortium, including the University of Bonn, Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais, University of Freiburg, European Forest Institute, Universitat Politècnica de València, IIASA, and UNEP-WCMC. Their expertise and collaboration made this work possible.

Photos by Rosa Castañeda.

Video: Science-based policy to protect biodiversity -Insights from the IPBES Nexus Assessment

on July 31, 2025

IPBES Nexus Assessment interview with Andrea Pacheco

CLEVER researcher Andrea Pacheco shares insights from the IPBES Nexus Assessment

How can we design policies that support biodiversity while also addressing climate change, food systems, health, and water? In this video interview, Andrea Pacheco, a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Bonn and part of the CLEVER project, shares insights from her work as a fellow in the IPBES Nexus Assessment. This global scientific effort brings together experts from around the world to identify solutions that benefit multiple sectors without creating harmful trade-offs.

Growing up in Honduras, where lush cloud forests and vibrant coral reefs shaped her early fascination with nature, Andrea developed a strong sense of the human–nature connection. Today, through her work with CLEVER and IPBES, she explores how current economic and policy systems can better support biodiversity. “Trade liberalization can increase food availability and have positive outcomes for health and nutrition,” she explains, “but it may come at the detriment of biodiversity, as we look at in the CLEVER project.” One CLEVER case study, for example, investigates how EU soy imports from Brazil impact biodiversity in producer regions.

Andrea highlights how the Nexus Assessment offers evidence-based response options that support biodiversity, health, food, climate, and water together, rather than advancing one goal at the cost of another. A key focus of her work is on sustainable finance. She calls for a major shift in both public and private funding, noting that “we need to decrease this spending that’s directly harmful to biodiversity… and massively increase the spending that protects or restores it, ideally in a nexus-oriented way.” For this to happen, transparency and equity in biodiversity finance are essential. Governments and the private sector must disclose how funds are spent to close persistent financing gaps and promote fairness in distribution.

Curious how science can inform more effective and just environmental decisions? Watch the video below, and explore the findings in the IPBES Nexus Assessment.

Video: How does our consumption impact forests?

on June 3, 2025

We’re living in a time of growing environmental urgency, and protecting the world’s forests has never been more critical. Rainforests like the Amazon and the Congo Basin play a key role in fighting climate change by storing vast amounts of carbon and supporting incredible biodiversity. Yet these vital ecosystems are under threat—driven by global demand for commodities like soy, beef, and timber. What we consume in Europe often has hidden links to deforestation in distant regions.

Using the case of soy imports from Brazil, this video highlights the complex connections between international regulations, global trade, and biodiversity loss. The CLEVER project provides research to support transformative change by helping shape fairer, more effective policies for forest protection. Watch the video below to better understand the role we all play in protecting our planet’s forests.

CLEVER Annual Meeting: In-person collaboration as the secret to catalyse innovation

on December 19, 2023

In today’s tech-driven world, where Zoom calls and virtual meet-ups are the norm, there’s still something magical about good old face-to-face collaboration. It is true that digital tools have made it easier for researchers to team up from different corners of the globe, but we should not forget the unique benefits of in-person collaboration in fostering innovation and advancing the frontiers of knowledge. In-person collaboration provides an environment where minds can converge, ideas can be exchanged seamlessly, and the sparks of creativity can ignite.

The CLEVER group experienced these benefits while meeting in-person for the II CLEVER Annual Meeting, last November in Vienna, Austria, hosted by the International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis (IIASA). CLEVER is a global project, implemented by 12 participant organisations in 8 different countries, and this in-person meeting sought, in particular, to increase interaction among the Work Packages, and take quick decisive actions on future joint activities. Mission accomplished: now, scenario modellers want to consider stakeholders’ perspectives on governance, while biodiversity scientists work together with economists to combine their data; both with a plan of activities for next year.

Beyond all the scientific achievements of the meeting, the main lesson that remains for me is that while virtual collaboration has its merits, the importance of in-person collaboration in research cannot be overstated. The synergy that arises from shared physical spaces, the spontaneity of face-to-face discussions, and the depth of human connection contribute to a collaborative environment that propels research to new heights. In-person interactions allow researchers to build trust, understand each other’s working styles, and establish a rapport that goes beyond the professional realm. Cheers to the magic of in-person collaboration: the secret that will take CLEVER research to the next level.

Researchers at the II CLEVER Annual Meeting: Advances in measuring and governing impacts on biodiversity in global biomass value chains

(photos by Rosa Castañeda)

Written by Fernanda Martinelli / University of Bonn

New paper on corporate accountability in commodity supply chains under the EU Deforestation Regulation

on June 14, 2023

CLEVER Researchers Laila Berning and Metodi Sotirov (University of Freiburg) published the paper “Hardening corporate accountability in commodity supply chains under the European Union Deforestation Regulation” in the Wiley Regulation & Governance journal.

They analyze the EU Deforestation Regulation by drawing on accountability scholarship and institutionalist theories of regulation. The results show that the Regulation aims to enhance corporate accountability mechanisms through mostly state-based hard regulation of commodity supply chains, reducing the role of market incentives and private regulation.

Read the paper here: https://doi.org/10.1111/rego.12540

Image by Adobe Stock/Stratocaster