Using the global value chain framework to analyse and tackle global environmental crises

Abstract

Climate crises are being experienced all over the world and appear to be accelerating as “extreme weather” events become the “new normal.” In today’s world economy, where trade and production activities are internationally dispersed and prone to disruptions, the global value chain (GVC) framework provides a systematic approach to understand and combat environmental crises and to advance sustainable development options across global, regional, and local scales. A vast “implementation deficit” characterizes sustainability efforts to date. The GVC framework incorporates firm and policymaker perspectives in a multistakeholder approach that offers multiple building blocks for a progressive environmental agenda, including: a multi-actor perspective to define sustainability; measuring it across diverse geographic scales; analysis of both environmental upgrading and downgrading; distinguishing motivations, actions, and outcomes when assessing environmental performance; viewing GVC resilience in terms of the interplay of economic and environmental forces; and highlighting how context matters in analyzing national, industry, and geopolitical factors.