CSDDD: Human rights & environmental due diligence across your value chain

The Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive (CSDDD, also known as CS3D) is the EU's most far-reaching supply chain regulation to date. Adopted in 2024, it requires large companies to identify, prevent, mitigate and account for adverse human rights and environmental impacts across their entire value chain — from raw material extraction through to end use.

Unlike earlier regulations that focused on specific commodities (EUDR) or reporting (CSRD), CSDDD imposes binding operational obligations. Companies must build due diligence processes, engage with affected stakeholders, establish grievance mechanisms, and — crucially — face civil liability if they fail to prevent harm they could reasonably have addressed.

This guide focuses on the practical supply chain implications: which companies are in scope, what obligations apply, how to collect the right data from suppliers, and how to build processes that satisfy both CSDDD and overlapping requirements like LkSG, CSRD and EUDR.