Climate Policies for Global Value Chains: Imported Emissions, Due Diligence, and the Politics of Regulatory Change

• In Event: 21068 - Global and Transnational Sociology of Climate Change

Abstract

After years of promoting voluntary standards, some governments have begun to develop mandatory regulatory policies to address carbon emissions, environmental degradation, and human rights abuses in global value chains. In the business community, these policies are often framed as unnecessary burdens that threaten firm autonomy and industrial competitiveness. Yet some firms and industries could also see these policies as an opportunity to level the playing field, hold laggard competitors up to higher standards, and gain competitive advantages. Building on theories of corporate power, capitalist class division, and global governance, this paper asks how businesses have shaped emerging supply chain regulations, with attention to both processes of influence and conditions under which firms have supported or opposed regulatory expansion. We focus on two pathbreaking supply chain regulations that are central to the European Union’s Green Deal—the regulation establishing a Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM) and the Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive (CSDDD). Both policies address carbon emissions and environmental damage, albeit in different ways. Through multi-method case studies, based on qualitative interviews and a quantitative database of business positions, we find significant heterogeneity in business positions. While some parts of the business community supported regulatory expansion in both cases, companies and trade associations also pushed—with varying success—to alter risky or burdensome elements. Strong and unified business resistance did not materialize during the bulk of these policymaking processes, but business resistance has resurfaced and intensified in the late-passage and post-passage period (2024-2025). In addition to unpacking two innovative climate policy projects, this research raises critical questions about unity and division in the capitalist class during a period of policy retrenchment and democratic deterioration.

Authors

• Tim Bartley, Georgetown University

• Maria-Therese Gustafsson, Stockholm University

• John Murray, Lund University