External publications

Tying the knot: questions on voluntary sustainability standards and corporate due diligence laws

Hernandez, Ariel
External Publications (2022)

in: United Nations Forum on Sustainability Standards (UNFSS) (ed.), Voluntary Sustainability Standards (VSS), Sustainability Agenda and Developing Countries: Opportunities and Challenges, Geneva: UNFSS, 49-50

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The interlinkages between issues, and policy instruments and impacts drive the emerging debate on environmental, social and economic sustainability. Because of these interlinkages, the implementation of a policy in one country can affect the implementation of policy and market instruments in other countries. For example, the new due diligence laws in several European countries are expected to have impacts on other instruments such as Voluntary Sustainability Standards (VSS), but they will also affect developing countries. Meanwhile, questions raised by developing countries on how the new due diligence laws in developed countries could affect them need to be addressed in both academic and policy debates. At the same time, questions have been raised about how social and environmental due diligence legislation will interact with other voluntary instruments such as VSS, particularly given developing countries’ existing concerns relating to these instruments.

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