Stefano Ponte joins the GLOBE Webinar Series to discuss his new book "Business, Power and Sustainability in a World of Global Value Chains" (2019, Zed Books).

The GLOBE Webinar Series – The Future of Global Governance – presents the latest and most cutting-edge research in global governance and gives audience members the opportunity to directly engage with leading scholars in the field. Each webinar focuses on a significant new book that has potential to shape future thought on global governance, featuring a presentation by the author, an intervention from an expert discussant, and a Q&A session with the audience.

Participation is free and webinars can be joined from anywhere in the world. Access the GLOBE Webinar Channel

About the book: The interaction of sustainability governance and global value chains has crucial implications the world over. When it comes to sustainability the last decade has witnessed the birth of hybrid forms of governance where business, civil society and public actors interact at different levels, leading to a focus on concepts of legitimacy within multi-stakeholder initiatives (MSIs).

Based in over 15 years of theoretical engagement and field research, Business, Power and Sustainability draws from both labour-intensive value chains, such as in the agro-food sector (coffee, wine, fish, biofuels, palm oil), and from capital-intensive value chains such as in shipping and aviation, to discuss how sustainability governance can be best designed, managed and institutionalized in today’s world of global value chains (GVCs). Examining current theoretical and analytical efforts aimed at including sustainability issues in GVC governance theory, it expands on recent work examining GVC upgrading by introducing the concept of environmental upgrading; and through new conceptions of orchestration, it provides suggestions for how governments and international organizations can best facilitate the achievement of sustainability goals.

About the author: Stefano Ponte is a professor of international political economy at Copenhagen Business School and Director at the Centre for Business and Development Studies. His previous books include New Actors and Alliances in Development (2014); Brand Aid: Shopping Well to Save the World (2011) and The Coffee Paradox (Zed 2005).

Discussant: Axel Marx (Leuven Centre for Global Governance Studies)
Moderator: Kari Otteburn (Leuven Centre for Global Governance Studies)