Sustainability Language

Sustainable supply chains

Environmental upgrading

The process by which firms in global value chains improve environmental performance in their production systems and practices.

Emerging · Version 0.1

Expert review openNo editor-accepted expert review yet

Definition

Environmental upgrading is the process by which economic actors in global value chains move toward production systems that avoid or reduce environmental harm — through changes in products, processes, technologies, management systems and organisational arrangements (concept developed by De Marchi and colleagues from 2013 in the global value chain literature).

References

Progress in Geography

concept evolution, definitions (De Marchi 2013; Khattak 2015; Krishnan 2017/2023; Poulsen 2018)

Overview

What it means

Analogous to economic upgrading (moving to higher-value activities), environmental upgrading asks how suppliers improve environmental performance and how gains are distributed along the chain. Research examines how lead-firm requirements, standards and knowledge transfer shape upgrading, and whether environmental gains coincide with or trade off against economic upgrading.

How it is used

Used in GVC and development research on green industrialisation, buyer-driven sustainability standards and supplier development.

Why it matters

It links supply-chain sustainability to development outcomes, clarifying when green requirements help or squeeze producers in the Global South.

Review

Public comments appear only after editor acceptance. Draft comments stay in the review queue.

0
How people contribute

Reviewers choose the definition or an overview paragraph, leave a comment or replacement, and attach evidence or a source link.

How comments are used

Editors compare reviewer cards side by side. AI may help find agreement, conflicts, unsupported claims and possible source issues.

What gets published

Only an editor-accepted synthesis changes the public page. Reviewer identities are shown only with consent and verification.

No verified experts yet

Submitted reviews stay private until accepted.

Endorse this definitionSuggest a revisionSubmit a wider review

Loading verified endorsements… Endorsements are not votes and never determine publication.

Endorse this definition

Endorse the exact version shown here. This is not a vote, and publication remains an editorial decision.

v0.1

Sign-in supplies your email for verification and necessary follow-up; it is not displayed publicly. We do not ask you to enter it again.

Sign in with a passwordless email link before submitting.

Review board

Comment on a specific line. Each reviewer stays separate until an editor accepts a merged draft.

1Separate reviewer cards

Each person comments on the definition or overview in their own draft card, with role, evidence and suggested wording kept together.

2AI comparison

AI can compare comments against the current text, flag conflicting claims, surface missing evidence and identify where reviewers agree.

3Editor synthesis

An editor merges compatible suggestions into a draft change, checks sources, records disagreements and decides what can be published.

Text to reviewChoose the exact definition or overview paragraph.
Reviewer commentDraft only. Not public until editor accepted.
Definition
Reviewer identityYour signed-in account identifies the submission. We use its email only for verification and necessary follow-up, and never display it publicly.
Before you submit

This proposal follows the editorial and AI-assistance rules. The live definition will not change until an editor accepts it.

  • Add the proposed wording or note.
  • Explain why the change is needed.
  • Ready
  • Ready

Sign in with a passwordless email link before submitting.

You can still save a draft, but completing these items makes editorial review faster. Multiple reviewers can suggest changes on the same text. Editors compare, merge, accept or decline them before any public change.