ZenGate & Sciences Po: From Sustainability Claims to Verifiable Supply Chains

ZenGate & Sciences Po: From Sustainability Claims to Verifiable Supply Chains

Global commodity supply chains are among the most important systems in the world economy. They connect farmers, cooperatives, aggregators, exporters, traders, importers, brands, and consumers across multiple regions and regulatory environments.

Yet despite their importance, many of these supply chains remain highly fragmented.

Data is often stored across paper records, spreadsheets, isolated systems, and informal communication channels. Information collected at origin does not always travel clearly across the chain. Buyers may depend on claims they cannot fully verify. Producers may follow responsible practices but lack the digital tools to prove them. And companies are increasingly expected to demonstrate sustainability with evidence, not just intention.

This is the challenge ZenGate explored through its collaboration with Sciences Po’s Impact Studio 2025/26.

Over the course of the project, a team of Sciences Po students worked with ZenGate to examine how blockchain-based traceability, through the Palmyra platform, can be communicated in a way that is credible, accessible, and aligned with the real pressures facing global commodity supply chains. Their research focused on one central question: how can complex traceability infrastructure help companies move from sustainability claims to verifiable, auditable supply chain evidence?

A Research Collaboration Focused on Real Supply Chain Challenges

The Sciences Po project began by studying ZenGate’s technology, the Palmyra ecosystem, and the broader regulatory environment shaping global trade. The team examined how Palmyra supports traceability workflows, how data moves across supply chain actors, and how blockchain can strengthen auditability by creating tamper-resistant records.

A major focus of the research was the EU Deforestation Regulation, which is accelerating the need for companies to collect geolocation data, maintain traceability records, and support due diligence with reliable evidence. But the project also made clear that traceability should not be understood only through the lens of one regulation.

The broader shift is bigger than EUDR.

Markets, regulators, institutions, and consumers are moving away from voluntary sustainability claims and toward systems that require proof. Companies are being asked not only to say where products come from, but to demonstrate how they were sourced, who was involved, and whether the information can be trusted.

For ZenGate, this reinforced the importance of positioning Palmyra not simply as a compliance tool, but as traceability infrastructure for global supply chains.

The Core Insight: Trust Begins at the First Mile

One of the strongest insights from the Sciences Po report was that supply chain transparency depends heavily on the quality of first-mile data.

In many commodity sectors, the information needed for compliance and traceability begins at farm and cooperative level. This includes plot mapping, farmer profiles, production records, harvest data, legal documentation, and batch-level information. Yet this is often the part of the supply chain where digital infrastructure is weakest.

The report identified this as a structural bottleneck: downstream actors, such as importers and operators, may carry legal and financial responsibility, but the data they depend on is generated upstream, often in environments with limited connectivity, informal land records, and fragmented documentation.

This creates a major coordination challenge.

The actors who need reliable data often do not directly control its collection. The actors who generate the data may not have the tools, incentives, or systems to capture it in a way that downstream buyers can use.

This is where Palmyra’s role becomes strategically important.

By helping structure data at origin, ZenGate can support the creation of audit-ready supply chain records that downstream actors can rely on. The value is not only in storing information, but in making supply chain data more usable, connected, and credible from the beginning.

Blockchain as an Enabler, Not a Shortcut

The collaboration also helped clarify an important point about blockchain-based traceability: blockchain strengthens auditability, but it does not replace the need for accurate data collection.

A blockchain record can make information more secure and harder to manipulate after it has been entered. But it cannot automatically guarantee that the original input was correct. This is sometimes described as the “garbage in, garbage out” problem.

For ZenGate, this insight is important because it shapes how Palmyra should be communicated.

The strongest positioning is not to claim that technology alone solves every supply chain problem. Instead, the more credible message is that Palmyra helps reduce data-quality risk by improving how information is captured, structured, recorded, and shared across actors.

In other words, the platform does not remove the complexity of supply chains. It helps make that complexity more visible, manageable, and auditable.

That distinction matters.

In a market increasingly skeptical of vague sustainability claims, credibility comes from being clear about what a solution does, what it enables, and where human oversight, partnerships, and verification remain necessary.

From EUDR Compliance to Broader Traceability Infrastructure

During the collaboration, the project evolved alongside ZenGate’s strategic priorities.

The initial research placed strong emphasis on EUDR compliance and how ZenGate could position itself within a fast-changing regulatory environment. The Sciences Po team produced a standalone EUDR Deep Dive Report, which later served as a practical reference for ZenGate when evaluating API providers for polygon data and risk classification.

This was an important outcome of the collaboration. It showed that the research was not only theoretical, but directly useful for product and strategic decision-making.

As the project progressed, ZenGate’s communication focus shifted. Rather than being positioned primarily as an EUDR-specific solution, Palmyra was reframed as a broader traceability platform for global supply chains.

This pivot reflected a larger market reality.

Regulations may change. Deadlines may shift. Requirements may evolve. But the need for reliable, auditable, farm-level and supply-chain data will remain.

Whether companies are preparing for EUDR, responding to ESG expectations, improving sourcing transparency, or building stronger relationships with suppliers, the underlying challenge is the same: they need better visibility into complex supply chains.

What the Interviews Revealed About Trust

As part of the final phase of the project, the Sciences Po team developed a short-form video interview concept built around different levels of supply chain expertise. The goal was to understand how people with varying levels of knowledge think about sustainability, traceability, sourcing, and trust.

The findings were highly relevant for ZenGate’s communication strategy.

Across interviews, the team found a consistent gap between people’s stated values and their actual knowledge of where everyday products come from. Many people care about ethical sourcing and environmental responsibility, but they often lack the information needed to make informed decisions.

The interviews also showed that price remains a dominant factor at the point of purchase. This means traceability cannot be framed only as a moral issue. For businesses, it must also be connected to operational value, market access, compliance readiness, reputational risk, and long-term competitiveness.

Another important finding was the widespread recognition of greenwashing. Interviewees were skeptical of company claims that are not supported by external evidence. They saw third-party verification and transparent data as essential to credibility.

For ZenGate, this reinforces a clear communication direction: the market does not need more vague sustainability language. It needs practical systems that help companies prove what they claim.

Why This Matters for Global Commodity Supply Chains

The Sciences Po collaboration highlighted that traceability is not only a technical challenge. It is also a trust challenge, a communication challenge, and a coordination challenge.

Supply chains involve many actors with different levels of power, responsibility, access, and technical capacity. A farmer may have the information required to prove origin, but not the tools to digitize it. An importer may have the legal obligation to prove compliance, but not direct visibility into every upstream process. A consumer may care about sustainability, but not know which claims to trust.

Traceability infrastructure helps close these gaps.

By connecting information across the supply chain, platforms like Palmyra can support more transparent sourcing, stronger compliance workflows, and more credible sustainability claims. They can also help ensure that smallholder farmers and cooperatives are not excluded from regulated markets simply because they lack the systems needed to prove what they already do.

This is one of the most important dimensions of the traceability conversation.

Better data is not only about protecting companies from risk. It is also about making global supply chains more inclusive, transparent, and resilient.

Building the Future of Verifiable Supply Chains

ZenGate’s collaboration with Sciences Po helped sharpen a critical message: the future of supply chain sustainability will be built on evidence.

Companies can no longer rely only on broad commitments, self-reported claims, or fragmented records. As regulatory expectations rise and market scrutiny increases, the ability to produce reliable, auditable supply chain data will become a core business requirement.

Palmyra was built for this shift.

By helping supply chain actors capture data at origin, structure it across workflows, and create auditable records supported by blockchain infrastructure, ZenGate is building technology for a world where transparency is no longer optional.

The collaboration with Sciences Po reinforced the importance of communicating this clearly.

Traceability is not just about compliance. It is about trust.

It is about helping companies prove where products come from, helping buyers reduce risk, helping producers remain connected to global markets, and helping supply chains move from opacity to accountability.

As global trade enters a new era of verification, ZenGate is focused on building the infrastructure that makes trustworthy supply chains possible.