Global soy chains and producer pushback to zero-deforestation commitments in Brazil

Accelerating climate change and biodiversity loss have spurred demands for the “greening” of Global Value Chains (GVCs). This article analyzes how Zero-Deforestation Commitments (ZDCs) are conveyed through soy supply chains to producers in Brazil. Informed by the GVC perspective and drawing on corporate reports and interview data, we study how intra-chain power relations shape the transmission of ZDCs with particular attention to how power is distributed and exercised across different nodes. Identifying a pushback from Brazilian soy producers, we challenge the assumption of cascading compliance underpinning academic perspectives and corporate strategies of sustainability management. Our contribution also stresses the pivotal role of state actors in mediating power dynamics within supply chains, as demonstrated by Brazilian authorities’ contestation of European deforestation regulations, such as the European Union Regulation on Deforestation-free Products (EUDR). Broadly, our findings reveal the rising market power of Southern agri-food corporations, which have emerged as significant veto-players in the environmental regulation of GVCs.