The fix that never was: the corporate sustainability due diligence directive and the limits of a neocolonial socio-ecological project

In response to the impending ecological catastrophe and stagnating economic growth, the leaders of the European Union (EU) promoted the European Green Deal (EGD) as a socio-ecological fix. As part of the EGD, they adopted the Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive (CSDDD), requiring large firms to conduct due diligence across value chains to prevent human and environmental rights violations. This paper analyses the CSDDD from a world-system perspective. Situating the directive within transformations of European and global regimes of accumulation, we assess the effectiveness of the EGD as a socio-ecological fix. Our findings show that the CSDDD leaves intact the dynamics of unequal exchange between the Global North and South, underscoring the neocolonial character of the EGD. We conclude by tracing the unravelling of EU sustainability legislation to EU leaders’ failure to construct a hegemonic bloc in support of the EGD.