LocationsDigital traceability is the future of trade. Here's how to get it right.
June 19, 2025
Traceability is urgently needed in commodity supply chains, which are responsible for close to 90 percent of deforestation.
Around the world, digital innovation is reshaping how agricultural goods are produced and traded. Nowhere is this more urgently needed than in commodity supply chains—such as coffee, cocoa, soy, and palm oil – which are responsible for close to 90 percent of global deforestation.
As demand grows for sustainably sourced goods, verifying whether commodities are produced without deforestation has become essential. Forests store carbon, protect biodiversity, and support the livelihoods of millions. Yet without tools to verify how and where products are grown, protecting these ecosystems, as well as the communities that depend on them, becomes significantly harder.
Why traceability matters
One of the most effective ways to bring transparency to supply chains and to ensure that supply chains are free from deforestation is through traceability – the ability to track a product’s journey from farm to shelf. With stronger traceability systems, governments, producers and buyers can verify production practices, ensure compliance with sustainability standards and respond to new regulatory requirements.
But building robust traceability systems is no small task. Smallholder farmers often lack access to the digital tools, data infrastructure or financing needed to participate. If traceability systems aren’t designed with inclusion in mind, they can easily become new or reinforce existing barriers to equitable and sustainable trade.
What’s making traceability work
So how do we make traceability systems that are open, scalable and inclusive?
Two concepts are key: digital public infrastructure (DPI) and digital public goods (DPGs.) These may sound technical, but at their core, they’re about making essential digital services accessible to everyone.
Figure 1: Digital public infrastructure
You can think of DPI as the digital equivalent of public roads, power lines, or water systems—foundations that everyone can use to build something of value. In supply chains, this might include digital IDs for farms and farmers, payment systems for instant and traceable transactions, or platforms for sharing data securely and reliably. Just as a road allows goods to move, DPI can enable the secure and efficient flow of information and money, making these services accessible and scalable for everyone involved.
Figure 2: Digital public goods
DPGs, on the other hand, are like free, public toolkits that anyone - whether you're a government, a tech company, or a farmer's cooperative - can use to solve problems. DPGs include tools like open-source farm-mapping and forest monitoring software, public datasets to track land use, or AI models for analysing satellite images. Because they are built to be open and adaptable, they help countries and communities avoid starting from scratch – offering low-cost and proven digital solutions that are easy to adapt and scale.
How DPI and DPG can help smallholder farmers
Many producers, especially smallholder farmers, face significant challenges when it comes to traceability. Accessing reliable data, monitoring platforms, and reporting tools can be difficult, and meeting market requirements often depends on intermediaries, adding both cost and complexity.
Building traceability systems using DPI can help lower these barriers. Open, interoperable platforms give all actors in the supply chain, from farmers to exporters, the ability to contribute and access information directly. When paired with DPGs, these systems also avoid the limitations of proprietary technologies, making it easier to participate and adapt.
Another major obstacle for smallholders is the cost of certification and compliance, which often relies on expensive third-party inspections. Here, DPG-powered tools can offer affordable alternatives. Mobile applications linked to cloud platforms let farmers collect and submit their own data. Geotagged photos and satellite imagery can serve as evidence of sustainable practices, eliminating the need for physical audits. Meanwhile, digital identities for farms also ensure that producers retain ownership and control over their own data – improving trust and transparency.
Yet the impact of DPI and DPGs can go even beyond individual farms and national traceability efforts. These digital foundations play a vital role in fostering South-South cooperation and global knowledge exchange. Shared platforms and open-source data ecosystems allow countries to learn from one another and adapt proven models to their local context. This is especially relevant as new regulations, such as the EU Deforestation Regulation (EUDR), introduce broad compliance requirements for producers across multiple regions.
In this landscape, coordinated solutions are key. By investing in open, scalable digital systems, donor governments and partners can help reduce duplication, avoid fragmentation, and support a more cohesive and inclusive approach to traceability in a cost-effective way.
These digital foundations also enable the next frontier: geospatial artificial intelligence (GeoAI) - a key innovation in environmental monitoring. With consistent, structured data across landscapes, countries can use AI to detect deforestation, assess risk, and model future threats. Open-source GeoAI tools can be developed and adapted locally, helping countries strengthen technical skills and build long-term capacity.
A digital-first approach to sustainable commodity supply chains
Embedding DPI and DPG into commodity traceability is more than a technical fix; it’s a pathway to fairer, more inclusive and more sustainable trade systems. These tools help lower costs, build trust, and give producers of all kinds a voice in shaping supply chains that work for people and the planet.
UNDP, collaboration with governments, communities, and partners is driving the co-development of digital solutions that are open and interoperable by design. With support from the Republic of Korea through the Funding Window, and building on the long-standing engagement through the Green Climate Fund and the UN-REDD Programme, these systems are being shaped to scale across regions and meet the evolving demands of sustainable commodity production and trade.
As climate and environmental pressures grow, investing in DPI and DPG is no longer optional. It's how we build the infrastructure for more sustainable, resilient and accountable global trade.
If you found this blog useful, check out our latest reports on Designing digital systems for scale and The Case for Nature ID. And learn more about how traceability systems were used in the making of the world first certified deforestation-free coffee.
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