MIAMI, FL / ACCESSWIRE / October 10, 2024 / Multinational companies today face unprecedented pressure to comply with stringent sustainability standards, particularly those set by the European Union (EU). And while the current regulations are tough, the worst is yet to come. However, from a sustainability and accountability perspective, bad news for these companies is good news for the planet. The new mandates are not arbitrary burdens-they are necessary to address the sometimes loose-ended manufacturing processes that have long evaded accountability.

The newest call for improvement extends beyond large industrial players to commodities like coffee, cocoa, tea, palm oil, and natural rubber, which are now in the environmentalist and activist crosshairs. Far from being the enemy, these voices are seen as critical instigators of positive change, requiring global companies to play by similar rules of circular economy transparency. The push for transparency has inspired regulations that emphasize traceability across global supply chains, and commodity-based industries are now at a crossroads, much like their industrial counterparts.

Unlike a decade ago, commodity sector players today have a powerful technological ally - SMX Ltd. (NASDAQ:SMX). SMX is doing more than providing a means for the industrials to respond to the growing demands for transparency; it is revolutionizing how food-based commodities are tracked throughout the global supply chain, addressing the critical "first-mile" challenge that no other known technology has been able to solve.

A Significant Opportunity for SMX

SMX's unique capabilities place the company in a prime position to capitalize on an enormous opportunity. With the EU leading global environmental protection and sustainability efforts, its impending regulations, which get stricter, serve to eliminate deforestation-linked commodities from global supply chains. With that in mind, SMX provides the right technology at the perfect time.

By 2025, companies will need to demonstrate that their products were not grown on deforested land. It's no longer enough to simply provide mounds of paperwork-companies will have to trace products all the way back to their origins, down to the plot of land where raw materials were harvested. This is where SMX becomes invaluable. With its patented, cutting-edge technology, SMX offers a proven bridge for multinational companies to comply with the EU's strict sustainability standards.

In the past, companies could face fines and move on, but the stakes are much higher now. Beyond financial penalties, non-compliance could lead to exclusion from key markets, causing irreparable damage to corporate reputations. But companies today have no excuses, and fat wallets won't help. With SMX's technology now available, traceability is no longer impossible or prohibitively expensive. SMX offers a viable, easily implemented solution for ensuring complete transparency from the first mile to the final product for businesses large and small.

SMX's Revolutionary Tracking Technology

At the heart of SMX's technology is its invisible chemical marker, which can be embedded directly into materials at the molecular level without affecting their quality or performance. For industries dealing with commodities like cocoa, palm oil, or natural rubber, SMX can tag materials at the source, enabling their journey through the supply chain to be fully tracked. For example, cocoa beans harvested from a specific farm can be marked with SMX technology, allowing chocolate manufacturers to trace their raw materials from farm to shelf.

SMX traceability technology is a game-changer for industries with historically fragmented supply chains. In regions like Ivory Coast and Ghana, two of the world's largest cocoa producers, tracing commodities has long been a challenge. A recent report by the Cocoa and Forests Initiative (CFI) revealed that the volume of fully traceable cocoa in these countries remained flat last year. While 83% of directly sourced cocoa in Ghana and 82% in Ivory Coast is traceable, large portions of the market remain vulnerable to non-compliance, even with the EU's upcoming deforestation regulations.

Direct sourcing, which simplifies traceability, remains a challenge. In 2022, only about 35% of Ivory Coast's cocoa exports were directly sourced from farmer cooperatives, and experts say figures for Ghana are similar, if not lower. The economic consequences for these countries could be severe, as they rely heavily on exports to the EU. Compliance with the EU deforestation law, which takes full effect in 2025, is not just an environmental obligation-it's an economic necessity. As a result and ready for action, SMX could be the solution many companies turn to to comply with these regulations. Reasons support that likelihood.

SMX Is A Vital And Necessary Ally

SMX's chemical markers are just one part of the solution. The company also integrates its marker technology with blockchain. Each product marked by SMX has a corresponding "digital twin" stored on a blockchain, ensuring that its entire journey through the supply chain is tangibly recorded. This inclusion allows companies to prove beyond a doubt that their materials were sourced sustainably and in compliance with international standards.

Blockchain's inflexible ledger also enables companies to verify the authenticity of the data they report to regulators and consumers, which is critical for proving compliance with the upcoming EU regulations and for companies to maintain market access. As the regulations take effect, the need for reliable technology like SMX becomes increasingly urgent.

Remember, the stakes for multinational food and commodity giants have never been higher. Many companies have invested heavily in sustainability, but these efforts could unravel without a robust solution like SMX to ensure complete transparency. Cracks are forming.

Consumers and stakeholders are starting to question whether it's worth paying a premium for products that claim to be sustainable when the transparency behind those claims is unclear. Without SMX, companies could see the entire premise of premium pricing for ethically sourced goods collapse.

Real-World Impact

The cocoa industry's situation in Ivory Coast and Ghana is a prime example of companies' difficulties achieving accurate traceability. Despite years of efforts to improve transparency, significant gaps remain. Failure to prove that cocoa beans were grown sustainably could lead to exclusion from the EU market, jeopardizing the livelihoods of millions of small-scale farmers. For these farmers, the EU deforestation law is both a challenge and an opportunity. Critics argue that until technologies like SMX are widely adopted, small farmers could continue to be excluded from the market.

That need not be the case. SMX's technology provides a reliable and inclusive path forward for small and large farms, businesses, and miners. By embedding markers at the first mile, SMX allows companies to present verifiable, end-to-end traceability, ensuring compliance with EU regulations, avoiding fines, and supporting sustainability goals.

Furthermore, SMX's technology extends beyond the point of sale, allowing materials to be tracked through the post-consumer phase. This opens up new opportunities for recycling and reuse, making SMX integral to the circular economy.

1. A Global Solution

In this sense, SMX is doing more than helping companies comply with regulations. It is future-proofing global supply chains and supporting the transition to a more sustainable, transparent economy. The rest of the world is likely to follow as the EU continues to lead in setting rigorous sustainability standards.

By solving the first-mile challenge and bridging the gap between regulatory compliance and operational feasibility, SMX offers a comprehensive solution, and companies working hard to protect their place in the global market would be wise to adopt SMX's technology sooner rather than later. With the clock ticking toward 2025, businesses need a technology that guarantees compliance and sustainability. SMX is that technology, and for multinational companies, it's not just an option-it's a necessity.

About SMX (Security Matters) Public Limited Company
As global businesses face new and complex challenges relating to carbon neutrality and meeting new governmental and regional regulations and standards, SMX is able to offer players along the value chain access to its marking, tracking, measuring and digital platform technology to transition more successfully to a low-carbon economy.

Forward-Looking Statements
The foregoing material may contain "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933 and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, each as amended. Forward-looking statements include all statements that do not relate solely to historical or current facts, including without limitation statements regarding the Company's product development and business prospects, and can be identified by the use of words such as "may," "will," "expect," "project," "estimate," "anticipate," "plan," "believe," "potential," "should," "continue" or the negative versions of those words or other comparable words. Forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future actions or performance. These forward-looking statements are based on information currently available to the Company and its current plans or expectations and are subject to a number of risks and uncertainties that could significantly affect current plans. Should one or more of these risks or uncertainties materialize, or the underlying assumptions prove incorrect, actual results may differ significantly from those anticipated, believed, estimated, expected, intended, or planned. Although the Company believes that the expectations reflected in the forward-looking statements are reasonable, the Company cannot guarantee future results, performance, or achievements. Except as required by applicable law, including the security laws of the United States, the Company does not intend to update any of the forward-looking statements to conform these statements to actual results.

Forward-Looking Statements
The information in this press release includes "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to, statements regarding expectations, hopes, beliefs, intentions or strategies regarding the future. In addition, any statements that refer to projections, forecasts or other characterizations of future events or circumstances, including any underlying assumptions, are forward-looking statements. The words "anticipate," "believe," "contemplate," "continue," "could," "estimate," "expect," "forecast," "intends," "may," "will," "might," "plan," "possible," "potential," "predict," "project," "should," "would" and similar expressions may identify forward-looking statements, but the absence of these words does not mean that a statement is not forward-looking. Forward-looking statements in this press release may include, for example: matters relating to the Company's fight against abusive and possibly illegal trading tactics against the Company's stock; successful launch and implementation of SMX's joint projects with manufacturers and other supply chain participants of steel, rubber and other materials; changes in SMX's strategy, future operations, financial position, estimated revenues and losses, projected costs, prospects and plans; SMX's ability to develop and launch new products and services, including its planned Plastic Cycle Token; SMX's ability to successfully and efficiently integrate future expansion plans and opportunities; SMX's ability to grow its business in a cost-effective manner; SMX's product development timeline and estimated research and development costs; the implementation, market acceptance and success of SMX's business model; developments and projections relating to SMX's competitors and industry; and SMX's approach and goals with respect to technology. These forward-looking statements are based on information available as of the date of this press release, and current expectations, forecasts and assumptions, and involve a number of judgments, risks and uncertainties. Accordingly, forward-looking statements should not be relied upon as representing views as of any subsequent date, and no obligation is undertaken to update forward-looking statements to reflect events or circumstances after the date they were made, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as may be required under applicable securities laws. As a result of a number of known and unknown risks and uncertainties, actual results or performance may be materially different from those expressed or implied by these forward-looking statements. Some factors that could cause actual results to differ include: the ability to maintain the listing of the Company's shares on Nasdaq; changes in applicable laws or regulations; any lingering effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on SMX's business; the ability to implement business plans, forecasts, and other expectations, and identify and realize additional opportunities; the risk of downturns and the possibility of rapid change in the highly competitive industry in which SMX operates; the risk that SMX and its current and future collaborators are unable to successfully develop and commercialize SMX's products or services, or experience significant delays in doing so; the risk that the Company may never achieve or sustain profitability; the risk that the Company will need to raise additional capital to execute its business plan, which may not be available on acceptable terms or at all; the risk that the Company experiences difficulties in managing its growth and expanding operations; the risk that third-party suppliers and manufacturers are not able to fully and timely meet their obligations; the risk that SMX is unable to secure or protect its intellectual property; the possibility that SMX may be adversely affected by other economic, business, and/or competitive factors; and other risks and uncertainties described in SMX's filings from time to time with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Additional Disclaimers and Disclosures: This is sponsored content. Hawk Point Media Group, LLC. (HPM) has been compensated, or expects to be, to produce and distribute digital content for SMX Ltd. It should be expressly understood that HPM is not operated by a licensed broker, a dealer, or a registered investment adviser. It should also be expressly understood that under no circumstances does any information published herein represent a recommendation to buy or sell a security. HPM reports/releases are commercial advertisements and are for general information purposes ONLY. The information made available by HPM is not intended to be, nor does it constitute, investment advice or recommendations. The contributors do NOT buy and sell securities covered before or after any particular article, report and/or publication. HPM holds ZERO shares and has never owned stock in SMX Ltd.. While HPM does not own or market shares, it is prudent to expect that those hiring HPM including that company's owners, employees, and affiliates, may sell some or even all of the SMX Ltd. shares that they own, if any, during and/or after this engagement period. Always do your own due diligence prior to investing in any publicly traded company. For a full disclaimer and disclosure statement, click HERE.

Sources:

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SOURCE: SMX Ltd.