Towards more environmentally sustainable supply chains: The role of trade agreements and sustainability initiatives

Cemre Balaban, Emma Boulonnois, Mattia Cai, Matteo Fiorini, Sébastien Miroudot and Irene Oliván García

No 293, OECD Trade Policy Papers from OECD Publishing

Abstract: This paper contributes to the discussion on policy options for achieving environmentally sustainable supply chains by exploring how trade agreements interact with the broader governance ecosystem for environmental sustainability, with a focus on industry-led and multi-stakeholder sustainability initiatives. Drawing on multiple datasets, it provides new empirical mappings of environmental provisions in trade agreements and of sustainability initiatives along global supply chains. These initiatives—ranging from third-party verified standards to facilitation-based schemes—vary in credibility and are unevenly distributed across sectors and supply chain stages. To date, 66 trade agreements have been signed that reference sustainability initiatives; in a few cases, these agreements cover more than 40% of a country’s supply chain trade. The analysis identifies mismatches between where such provisions apply and where initiatives are most prevalent, and concludes by discussing the challenges and opportunities of fostering synergies between trade agreements and sustainability initiatives.

Keywords: Environmental sustainability; Trade agreements (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: C67 F18 F64 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025-05-09
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

There are no downloads for this item, see the EconPapers FAQ for hints about obtaining it.

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:oec:traaab:293-en

Access Statistics for this paper

More papers in OECD Trade Policy Papers from OECD Publishing Contact information at EDIRC.
Bibliographic data for series maintained by ().