We are living in a time of profound crisis, marked by mounting environmental degradation and deepening social injustice. Global business plays a critical role: it is a major driver of these challenges, yet, given its transnational reach and economic power, it holds potential to contribute to a safer and more just world.
In her PhD thesis, Chiara Morfea explores how law can address the contribution of business to today’s unsustainabilities and mobilise the potential of business towards a safer and more just future. She concentrates on corporate sustainability due diligence, a regulatory technique that requires companies to identify and address harm in their operations and value chains. Using the EU Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive as a case study, the thesis asks whether and to what extent this tool can truly help foster sustainability in and through the corporate sector.
The findings show that, while the Directive is an important step forward, it has clear limitations. It is based on a narrow understanding of sustainability that is not grounded in interdisciplinary research and does not fully reflect how environmental and social issues are interconnected or how they affect people differently around the world. The way the due diligence process is framed also has significant shortcomings that limit its real impact, including the very small number of companies covered and the reliance on measures such as contractual assurances, which risk leading to cosmetic compliance.
Despite these shortcomings, the Directive still creates important opportunities to advance corporate sustainability. In particular, it can strengthen the role of affected people and civil society organisations by providing them with more avenues to raise concerns, engage with companies, and challenge harmful practices.
More broadly, the thesis argues that making the most of these opportunities will require seizing the possibilities that arise from the Directive’s interaction with the broader, evolving regulatory framework for corporate sustainability. It also calls for continuous and radical self reflection in legal thinking and practice as a basis for imagining new ways of regulating business in the Anthropocene.
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Chiara Morfea holds her trial lecture ‘The traditional shareholder–stakeholder dichotomy in light of modern developments in corporate sustainability regulation’ on Thursday 25 June 2026, at 2.15-3 pm (CEST), and she defends her PhD thesis on Friday 26 June 2026,1.15-4 pm, at the University of Bergen. Both events are open to all interested – and those not in Bergen can follow the events digitally!
- Trial lecture (25 June): Join the webcast
- Public defence (26 June) NB: New webcast link: Join the webcast
Meeting-ID: 332 176 261 500 332
Password: T5qf2rc2