Sustainability Gridlock: Soy-Meat

The research examines the soy-meat value chain to determine if market-based governance, such as certification and eco-labeling, effectively manages sustainability. It finds that fragmented commitments based on different risk factors—such as deforestation for upstream traders versus animal welfare for downstream actors—lead to low instrument uptake and the displacement of environmental impacts. The authors conclude that network governance is necessary to overcome this 'sustainability gridlock' through better information exchange and trust between global regions.

• Market-based sustainability initiatives in the soy-meat value chain are fragmented because actors face different risk factors: upstream soy traders focus on deforestation, while downstream actors prioritize animal welfare, climate change, and human health.
• Supply chain initiatives fail to address the root causes of sectoral impacts, such as the global demand for cheap meat and land appreciation, and the vertical integration of the sector prevents business actors from imposing sustainability norms without incurring costs or causing perverse outcomes.
• Poor coordination in market governance results in low uptake of certification and shifts costs and responsibilities onto soy producers; for example, the Amazon Soy Moratorium has led to the displacement of impacts onto other commodities and regions.

APA

Stockholm Environment Institute (2019). Sustainability Gridlock: Soy-Meat. https://www.sei.org/publications/sustainability-gridlock-soy-meat/

Chicago

Stockholm Environment Institute. Sustainability Gridlock: Soy-Meat. 2019. https://www.sei.org/publications/sustainability-gridlock-soy-meat/.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=Stockholm Environment Institute |title=Sustainability Gridlock: Soy-Meat |date=1 April 2019 |url=https://www.sei.org/publications/sustainability-gridlock-soy-meat/ |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{stockholmenvironmentinstitute2019sustainability, author = {{Stockholm Environment Institute}}, title = {{Sustainability Gridlock: Soy-Meat}}, institution = {Stockholm Environment Institute}, year = {2019}, month = apr, url = {https://www.sei.org/publications/sustainability-gridlock-soy-meat/}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }