Fashion Business Journal: From Traceability to Proof: What CSDDD Omnibus Reform Means for Global Supply Chains
By Kelly Thompson and MeiLin Wan
Editor’s note:This article explores how evolving regulatory expectations, including the Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive (CSDDD) and the EU Deforestation Regulation (EUDR), are reshaping supply chain due diligence. It examines how emerging approaches, particularly those that combine digital traceability with scientific verification, are helping address these changes.
As the European Union advances the implementation of the Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive (CSDDD), the expectations placed on global supply chains are shifting in a fundamental way. Companies are no longer being assessed solely on whether due diligence processes exist, but on whether they can demonstrate that risks are being effectively identified, mitigated, and monitored in practice.
This paper introduces the concept of “Evidence Ecosystems” is particularily relevant to the framing of CSDD, EUDR and other EU-based due-diligence programs and policies.
For industries such as textiles and wood products, where supply chains are complex, multi-tiered, and often opaque, this shift presents a significant challenge. Traditional approaches, based primarily on documentation, certifications, and supplier declarations, are increasingly being tested against a higher standard: the ability to provide credible, verifiable evidence.
At the same time, the interaction between CSDDD and the EU Deforestation Regulation (EUDR) is reinforcing a more integrated approach to due diligence. Together, these frameworks point toward a model where documentation alone is no longer sufficient, and where companies must combine multiple forms of evidence to substantiate both environmental and human rights claims.
