Planetary boundary pressures and the political ecology of global value chains: contrasting sustainability governance in Amazonian beef and cosmetics

Abstract

This paper aims to develop a political–ecological perspective on global value chains to explain how planetary boundary pressures are interpreted, contested and governed, reshaping sustainability governance and generating divergent responses across sectors operating within the same ecological context. Drawing on a political ecology perspective, the study conducts a qualitative comparative analysis of two GVCs in the Brazilian Amazon, beef and biodiversity-based cosmetics. The analysis is based on semi-structured interviews, fieldwork, workshops and triangulated with secondary sources to trace how ecological pressures interact with governance arrangements, firm strategies and trade dynamics. The findings show that planetary boundary pressures do not operate as uniform constraints but are interpreted through sector-specific governance logics. In the beef GVC, environmental pressures are framed as regulatory and reputational risks, leading to compliance-driven governance characterized by fragmented public, private and hybrid mechanisms, monitoring gaps and exclusionary outcomes for upstream producers. In contrast, the cosmetics GVC reflects a bioeconomy-oriented logic in which biodiversity is treated as a source of value, fostering relational governance, community engagement and co-production of socio-environmental benefits. However, this model generates selective inclusion dependent on firm strategies and market recognition. The paper advances critical international business scholarship by demonstrating that sustainability governance under planetary constraints diverges rather than converges across sectors. It contributes a political ecology perspective to GVC analysis, highlighting how different valuations of nature produce distinct and uneven governance architectures.