[Interview] UvA and Asser Institute researchers explore digital tools in sustainability regulation

In an interview with the Amsterdam Law School (University of Amsterdam), researchers Klaas Eller (UvA) and Antoine Duval (Asser Institute) talk about their innovative project DigiChain, which explores how digital technologies are transforming sustainability due diligence in global supply chains. Do digital tools actually help in preventing human rights violations and environmental degradations, and how do they interpret and reshape legal norms? 

In the article, Eller and Duval, who first met as law students in France and Germany, recall how they reconnected through their shared interest in transnational law and private governance, which sparked discussions that eventually led to the DigiChain project, which investigates how companies and regulators are increasingly turning to digital tools to implement sustainability regulations across global value chains.  

The adoption of the landmark EU Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive (CSDDD) is now requiring large companies to actively work to prevent harm to people and the planet throughout their value chains, signalling a shift towards holding companies accountable for the human rights or environmental costs of doing business .  

The DigiChain project examines whether the use of digital tools, including artificial intelligence, by both companies and regulators, can enhance compliance and how they help to interpret and reshape legal norms across borders. Klaas Eller: "DigiChain investigates how companies and regulators in the EU and beyond turn to digital tools to comply with sustainability regulations. Many pillars of the European Green Deal, such as due diligence and reporting obligations, explicitly reference technology. In some cases, the European Commission is even involved in developing these tools. From a legal perspective, this is fascinating because laws are growingly implemented through technology, introducing new layers of complexity. Our research examines whether digital tools enhance compliance and how they interpret and reshape legal norms." 

According to Antoine Duval, "The digitalisation of governance is happening across the board, particularly in public administration. Our project is unique because no one has really studied this phenomenon in the context of transnational value chains. We’re bringing a fresh perspective at the intersection of law, technology, and governance." 

The team's Spring Academy, returning this April, has become a go-to forum to discuss and experiment with digital tools in sustainability regulation. And their work has already garnered attention from policymakers at the European Commission, the UN OHCHR, the German Ministry of Development and the OECD.  

Read the full interview.  

Interested in sustainability due dilligence?  

Join our Spring Academy (April 08 - 12 April 2024) to develop a comprehensive understanding of the opportunities and challenges in using digital technologies in the framework of the corporate sustainability due diligence process. Since 2019, the Asser Institute offers a week-long academy on the theory and practice of sustainability due diligence as master key to responsible business conduct. The academy features expert lectures from academics in the field and practical sessions led by experienced practitioners from both the private and public sectors. Read the full programme.  

About Antoine Duval

Antoine Duval is a senior researcher at the Asser Institute, where he coordinated the Institute’s work on business and human rights in the framework of the Doing Business Right project. He has widely published on the ‘due diligence’ turn in the governance of transnational value chains. Antoine is a founding member of the DigiChain project supported by the University of Amsterdam and the Asser Institute. 

About Klaas Hendrik Eller

Klaas Hendrik Eller is an associate professor at the Amsterdam Center for Transformative Private Law (ACT), a founding member of the DigiChain project and affiliated with the Sustainable Global Economic Law (SGEL) research project.  
His research interests are centred around the role of (private) law in social and technological change, particularly through an angle of contract and economic law, alongside comparative and international private law as well as human rights. He is a co-editor-in-chief of the German Law Journal, and editor of Kritische Justiz, and a member of the Amsterdam Young Academy (AYA).