China’s Role in Greening Global Value Chains

Global value chains organize social and economic activities and add value to commodities and services by linking production, logistics, consumption and recycling processes, which forms a global or regional inter-firm network. Greening global value chains mean mainstreaming sustainable development concepts into the rules and practices of global value chains – a green reboot. In this study, we identify the positive roles China can play in building a global green value chains framework. We have focused on the global value chains for commodities, particularly select soft commodities – seafood, soy, palm oil, cotton, forest products and copper –, which comprise a modest part of China’s trade with the world but a very significant part of its impact on the Earth’s resources.

Task Force: Low-Carbon and Inclusive Transition Topic: Trade, International Cooperation, and South-South Partnerships Year: 2016 Phase: Phase V (2012-2017) Concluded