Summary

As sustainability governance shifts from voluntary standards toward binding, extraterritorial regulation, understanding the implications for Global Value Chain (GVC) actors, particularly  in producer countries, becomes increasingly critical. In this doctoral project, we examine the European Union's Deforestation Regulation (EUDR) and Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive (CSDDD) and their anticipated implications for stakeholders in Ethiopia's coffee and apparel sectors. We analyze how these regulatory frameworks are reshaping governance dynamics within buyer-driven value chains, particularly through actors' interpretations, anticipations, and strategic responses in contexts characterized by institutional constraints, infrastructural limitations, and competing development priorities.

Adopting a perspective that conceptualizes regulation as a socially embedded and interpretive process, we employ a qualitative, embedded multiple-case study design drawing on interviews, document analysis, and field-based observations with diverse local actors, including smallholder farmers, cooperatives, exporters, apparel firms, factory workers, government agencies, and intermediary institutions. By examining the extraterritorial reach of EU sustainability rules and how these actors interpret and anticipate emerging regulatory pressures during the pre-implementation phase, we will contribute to contemporary debates on sustainability governance and the transition from soft-law regimes to mandatory due diligence frameworks. We will further advance understanding of how transnational regulation interacts with domestic institutional environments. Ultimately, we assess whether these emerging European sustainability regulations are perceived as capable of generating substantive environmental and social sustainability improvements in producer contexts such as Ethiopia, or whether they risk reinforcing and deepening existing inequalities within global value chains.