The transition to more sustainable production and consumption models demands that environmental (e.g. climate change, biodiversity loss, pollution) and social (e.g. inclusion, equity) challenges be incorporated into the management of value chains, from global to local arrangements. This transition involves the development and adoption of innovations along successive links in the value chains, as well as the participation of different organizations (companies of different sizes, NGOs, multi-stakeholder organizations) and governments to induce practices (e.g. transparency and traceability) and/or incorporate regulations (e.g. EUDR, WEEE, RoHS) and private standards (e.g. FSC, UEBT, roundtables, regenerative agriculture).

In this context, the discipline aims to examine (i) the socio-environmental issues, from the global to the local context, that arise in the context of value chains, (ii) the role of sustainability-oriented innovation in value chains, (iii) the influence of different types of organizations on governance and practices in value chains, (iv) the incorporation of sustainability into value chains based on sustainable supply chain management models, and (v) alternatives and solutions for the incorporation of sustainability by members of value chains based on private regulations and standards, based on practices verified in national and international cases.