In recent years, the global business landscape has witnessed a paradigm shift towards sustainability, driven by increasing environmental concerns, social consciousness, and regulatory pressures. As a result, businesses are under increasing pressure to integrate sustainability practices into their operations, with increasing transparency required across value and supply chains. The past two years have brought an increase internationally, and particularly in Europe, in regulatory measures requiring due diligence of sustainability practices across supply chains, as well as a shift from voluntary reporting disclosures towards legislated, mandatory disclosures. This means that an increasing number of companies, including retailers, are being mandated to start reporting, not only on their climate risks, but also on the impact of their business, including upstream and downstream, on environmental and social conditions. This will have far-reaching impacts on global supply chains, and is already influencing international sourcing decisions at company level.

This Tradescape seeks to raise awareness among Western Cape exporters of the wave of new sustainability regulatory measures being implemented in Europe and around the world that will require shifts in behaviour across global supply chains, including, in particular, the EU Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD) and the EU Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive (CS3D).