Global value chains and environmental sustainability in emerging markets: Evidence from Kyrgyzstan

AUFF NOVA, £46,000

This project explores the role of Global Value Chains in (exacerbating or improving) environmental challenges and environmental practices of firms in emerging markets, on the example of garment manufacturing firms in Kyrgyzstan, a post-socialist country in Central Asia. This question will be addressed by focusing on the impact of
GVCs on focal firms’ production processes concerning environmental issues like energy efficiency, resource use, water efficiency, waste management, pollution, and emissions. Recent research shows that a large share of emission growth in emerging markets is, in fact, due to the participation of firms in GVCs that serve consumption overseas. Due to being integrated into GVCs, suppliers in emerging markets face increasing pressures from customers in developed countries to adopt environmentally sustainable practices. However, there is growing recognition that whilst poorer economies contribute very little to global greenhouse gas emissions, they are unduly affected by climate change compared to richer and more developed economies. This has been highlighted as a form of environmental injustice, which requires local
transformative actions to tackle and mitigate environmental problems. By exploring the role of GVCs on the environment and environmental practices in emerging markets, this project aims to make an important scientific contribution within the GVC research and lead scholarly debates on transformative actions to create more environmentally sustainable and inclusive GVC systems.

The project explores how participation in global markets affects environmental sustainability practices of small and medium firms in Kyrgyzstan. It examines the extent to which participation of firms in global markets leads to better outcomes in terms of more environmentally successful processes and practices, or conversely exacerbates such processes and practices.