GSSC Seminar Series
16 December 2025
Extraterritorial Corporate Accountability and Reterritorialized Sustainability Governance: Synergies or Conflicts in Peruvian Agro-Commodity Supply Chains under the EUDR?
Anke Kaulard (University of Cologne), Kate MacDonald (University of Melbourne), Paula Tafur (Pontifical Catholic University of Peru)
Recent years have witnessed renewed efforts to regulate global supply chains through extraterritorial regulatory and accountability mechanisms led by major commodity-importing actors. The EU’s Regulation on Deforestation-Free Products (EUDR) is the most prominent example and stands out for its mandatory approach. Supporters argue that such measures can incentivise and facilitate sustainability transitions in producer regions. Critics, however, question whether these unilateral, buyer-driven approaches truly strengthen territorial governance led by governments, producer organisations, and firms within specific landscapes and subnational jurisdictions. Instead, they warn that extraterritorial regulation may generate new forms of exclusion and resistance.
Our study examines the conditions under which extraterritorial supply-chain governance supports or undermines territorial sustainability initiatives. Combining a conceptual framework with empirical research on coffee, cocoa, and palm oil supply chains in the Peruvian Amazon, it analyses how EUDR-related pressures interact with subnational governance dynamics in San Martín, a region known for environmental innovation. We find that transnational governance mechanisms—such as enhanced traceability and incentive-based buyer engagement—can reinforce territorial governance. Yet misaligned timelines and incentives, insufficiently targeted capacity building, weak stakeholder inclusion, and the absence of support for pro-regulatory coalitions produce unintended outcomes: marginalised producers are at risk to be pushed into less sustainable trading networks, pro-sustainability alliances are weakened, and local extractive interests gain political cover to advance regressive land-titling reforms. We conclude that extraterritorial governance can complement territorial approaches only if incentives, resources, and political strategies are better aligned with the demands and temporalities of territorially grounded sustainability transformations.
Moderated by: Barbara Potthast