Trade openness, global value chain integration and firms’ adoption of environment-friendly strategies

Bibliographic Data

ID19219482
AuthorsIsabel Maria Bodas Freitas (0000-0002-9599-759X, Grenoble Ecole de Management, corresponding author), Fulvio Castellacci (0000-0001-7707-7397, University of Oslo), Keun Lee (0000-0002-0403-6348, National Research University Higher School of Economics), Matthias Staessens (0000-0001-8523-8816, Business France)
Year2026
Volume205
Pages107430-107430
Publication date2026-05-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueWorld Development (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0305-750X • E-ISSN: 1873-5991
PublisherElsevier BV (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1016/j.worlddev.2026.107430
OpenAlexW7160040500
LanguageEN
References cited73

This paper investigates whether firms that are more open to international trade engage more extensively in efforts to reduce the environmental impact of their activities by adopting environment-friendly strategies (i.e., implementing new practices and technologies that reduce pollution and resource use). In particular, we examine the direction of this relationship for different levels of industry integration in Global Value Chains (GVCs) and different degrees of GVC trade partners’ environmental performance. Our econometric analysis uses data from 4,886 manufacturing firms from 21 lower and upper middle-income countries in Central Asia, Eastern Europe and the Middle East and North Africa. The results suggest a positive association between firm openness to international markets and intensity of use of environmentally friendly practices and technologies. This relationship becomes stronger for higher levels of environmental performance by industry GVC partners and weaker levels of industry integration in GVC.

Chain (unit) · Global value chain · Supply chain · Value (mathematics) · Value chain · Environmental Sustainability in Business · Global trade, sustainability, and social impact · Sustainable Supply Chain Management

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