EXTENDED RESPONSIBILITY IN VALUE CHAINS: CHALLENGES AND CONTROVERSIES

Abstract

Ecological concerns are more than ever at the heart of current tensions. On the one hand, we are witnessing increasing global warming in almost every region of the world, leading to unprecedented natural disasters, and the “Earth Overshoot Dayt” is arriving earlier every year. On the other hand, societal and economic problems are also on the rise, such as the loss of European competitiveness. These contradictory dynamics illustrate the complexity of the challenges we face in the years ahead. The idea for this thesis arose primarily from the Omnibus simplification proposal published on February 26, 2025. It illustrates both the environmental urgency and the growing economic tensions. While criticism of European directives in connection with the Paris Agreement and the European Green Deal is nothing new, the Omnibus proposal marked a significant turning point in the debate. Both scientific and managerial contributions pointed to the difficulties faced by some companies, particularly SMEs, in implementing the directives needed to achieve Europe's ecological transition agenda. The Draghi Report, published at the end of 2024, develops and proposes measures to be taken to stem the slowdown in the European economy. Among its many suggestions, that of administrative simplification and the scope of certain directives prompted the European Commission to review some of its legislation in depth. The ones we are interested in, and which will be analyzed in this thesis, are those which provide for an increase in the scope of corporate responsibility throughout the value chain. This principle of extending their responsibility not only enables companies, mainly European ones, to account for their negative impacts in carrying out their activities but also forces them to take measures to mitigate these problems. The two directives studied in this thesis are the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD) and the Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive (CS3D). The former requires companies to report on their activities, while the latter obliges companies to take concrete steps to rectify potential negative impacts. However, in the context of current revisions, these two directives have not escaped a lightening of their obligations and scope of application. The aim of this dissertation is therefore to attempt to answer the following research question: To what extent does the extension of corporate responsibility to the entire value chain, as promoted by CSRD and CS3D, generate operational and administrative challenges for companies, and what are the main criticisms expressed by stakeholders regarding the practical implementation of due diligence obligations? To answer this question, the empirical part of this work is based on grey literature from stakeholders from a variety of backgrounds. This qualitative analysis includes position papers and critical opinions issued by these stakeholders on the subject of this project.