Due diligence for a just, green and digital transition? A panel conversation.

This panel conversation brings together researchers from the LU Human Rights Profile Area working group “Due diligence for a just and sustainable transition?”, working at the intersection of human rights, environmental sustainability, and supply chain governance to explore the promises and limitations of due diligence in global supply chains. Drawing on perspectives from law, sustainability studies, and supply chain management, the panel will discuss how due diligence is conceptualised in EU policy, operationalised by companies, and experienced along supply chains that span diverse social, environmental, and geopolitical contexts.

The discussion will focus on key tensions and trade-offs that are becoming increasingly visible as due diligence moves from policy ambition to implementation. These include questions around regulatory complexity versus “simplification”, competitiveness and strategic autonomy versus social and environmental safeguards, and transparency and accountability versus administrative burden. The panel will also reflect on unintended consequences of due diligence regulation, such as the risk of supplier exclusion, responsibility shifting, or the marginalization of vulnerable actors in upstream supply chains.

Rather than treating due diligence as a purely technical or compliance-driven exercise, the event invites participants to critically reflect on its broader societal implications. What does a just transition mean in the context of global supply chains? Whose risks are made visible – and whose remain unseen? And how can human rights considerations remain meaningfully embedded in sustainability regulation at a time of shifting political priorities in a rapidly evolving global landscape?

Panelists

• Karin Buhmann, Full Professor of Business & Human Rights, Department of Management, Society and Communication (MSC), Copenhagen Business School 
• Amanda Kron, Doctoral Candidate in Public International Law, Faculty of Law, LU
• Lisa Heldt, Assistant Professor in Sustainable Operations and Supply Chains, Center for Supply Chain Digitalization, University of Southern Denmark and Visiting Researcher, International Institute for Industrial Environmental Economics (IIIEE), Lund University

Organisers

The event is organised by the LU Human Rights Profile Area working group “Due diligence for a just and sustainable transition?”, which brings together researchers across faculties to explore how human rights and environmental due diligence can be designed, implemented, and governed in ways that support both sustainability and justice.

The event is part of Sustainability Week 2026, which runs between 13-18 April. Sustainability Week is an annual event in Lund organised as a joint venture by Lund University and Lund municipality. The week serves as a platform for bringing together ideas, raising public awareness and for inspiring sustainable change. 

See the full programme at the Sustainability Week webpage | hallbarhetsveckan.event.lu.se