Improving environmental outcomes along food supply chains
A review of initiatives and their effectiveness
This paper reviews initiatives which take a “supply chain lens” to improving environmental
outcomes of food systems. Some focus on due diligence, or ask firms to disclose impacts
of their supply chain. Others benchmark firms according to supply chain performance.
Firms also increasingly make corporate pledges covering their supply chain. In addition
to traditional voluntary sustainability standards and labels, new labels are emerging
which communicate actual environmental impacts along the life cycle. Governments can
also provide financial incentives linked to such impacts. This review demonstrates
the strong growth and diversity of initiatives, bolstered by more clearly defined
societal expectations and reporting standards, and leading to a greater availability
of data and evidence and more universal reporting, reducing the scope for greenwashing.
Despite their great promise, there remain coverage gaps. Evidence on effectiveness
also remains relatively scarce, although there is a clear increase in the number of
empirical studies.
Published on September 27, 2022
In series:OECD Food, Agriculture and Fisheries Papersview more titles