Hardening sustainability: Supply chain laws complement cocoa and coffee certifications

The European Union (EU) has recently adopted several supply chain laws. The 2023 EU Deforestation Regulation (EUDR) and the 2024 Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive (CSDDD) are still the subject of fierce debate. This article examines the extent to which the new legislation complements, or even falls short of, existing voluntary sustainability standards (VSS). The focus is on the two affected commodities with the highest share of certified sustainable production, cocoa (41.8 %) and coffee (24.7 %). Using an analytical framework of scope, process and enforceability, I compare EUDR and CSDDD with the most widely used certification initiatives, Rainforest Alliance and Fairtrade International, for cocoa and coffee. The results show that the public legislation is more stringent than the VSS in some aspects, in particular, reporting (procedure) and supervision (enforcement). Nevertheless, other aspects of the new legislation are already addressed by the VSS and implementation of the laws would provide first-mover advantages to certified companies. It is thus in their interest to weaken the public legislation but not to abolish it. • Public supply chain laws demonstrate greater stringency than voluntary standards. • While laws target large companies, some voluntary standards include smallholders. • Some private schemes voluntarily established stringent grievance mechanisms. • Certified companies have an interest in weakening, not abolishing, legislation. • Resistance to laws raises doubt about actual compliance with voluntary standards.