Transparency and sustainability in global commodity supply chains

Transparency and sustainability in global commodity supply chains

•The links between transparency and sustainabilityare poorly understood.•We present a typology of information for supply chain governance.•The coverage of existing transparencyinitiatives is limited and biased in scope.•We present ten ways in which transparency can improve sustainability governance....

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:World development Vol. 121; pp. 163 - 177
Main Authors: Gardner, T.A., Benzie, M., Börner, J., Dawkins, E., Fick, S., Garrett, R., Godar, J., Grimard, A., Lake, S., Larsen, R.K., Mardas, N., McDermott, C.L., Meyfroidt, P., Osbeck, M., Persson, M., Sembres, T., Suavet, C., Strassburg, B., Trevisan, A., West, C., Wolvekamp, P.
Format: Journal Article
Language:English
Published: England Elsevier Ltd 01-09-2019
Pergamon Press Inc
Pergamon Press
Subjects:
Agriculture
Beef
Bias
Commitments
Commodities
Deforestation
Disclosure
Forests
Governance
Information
Information systems
Palm oil
Soy
Supply
Supply chains
Sustainability
Sustainable development
Trade
Transparency
Typology
Deforestation
Trade
Forests
Palm oil
Commitments
Agriculture
Beef
Information
Disclosure
Soy
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Summary:•The links between transparency and sustainabilityare poorly understood.•We present a typology of information for supply chain governance.•The coverage of existing transparencyinitiatives is limited and biased in scope.•We present ten ways in which transparency can improve sustainability governance. Over the last few decades rapid advances in processes to collect, monitor, disclose, and disseminate information have contributed towards the development of entirely new modes of sustainability governance for global commodity supply chains. However, there has been very little critical appraisal of the contribution made by different transparency initiatives to sustainability and the ways in which they can (and cannot) influence new governance arrangements. Here we seek to strengthen the theoretical underpinning of research and action on supply chain transparency by addressing four questions: (1) What is meant by supply chain transparency? (2) What is the relevance of supply chain transparency to supply chain sustainability governance? (3) What is the current status of supply chain transparency, and what are the strengths and weaknesses of existing initiatives? and (4) What propositions can be advanced for how transparency can have a positive transformative effect on the governance interventions that seek to strengthen sustainability outcomes? We use examples from agricultural supply chains and the zero-deforestation agenda as a focus of our analysis but draw insights that are relevant to the transparency and sustainability of supply chains in general. We propose a typology to distinguish among types of supply chain information that are needed to support improvements in sustainability governance, and illustrate a number of major shortfalls and systematic biases in existing information systems. We also propose a set of ten propositions that, taken together, serve to expose some of the potential pitfalls and undesirable outcomes that may result from (inevitably) limited or poorly designed transparency systems, whilst offering guidance on some of the ways in which greater transparency can make a more effective, lasting and positive contribution to sustainability.
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ISSN:0305-750X
1873-5991
1873-5991
DOI:10.1016/j.worlddev.2018.05.025