Towards more environmentally sustainable supply chains

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.