Environmental Upgrading Research Articles

The evolution of sustainable renovation of existing buildings: from integrated seismic and environmental retrofitting strategies to a life cycle thinking approach

The sustainable renovation of existing buildings is currently at the top of the agenda of the European Union. Sustainability is typically defined as the result of the interaction of environmental, economic, and social aspects, and it is now considered a major target objective in all sectors of our economy, including the construction one. The concept of sustainable renovation has changed significantly over time, leading to the current interpretation that considers the need to simultaneously improve safety and resilience against natural hazards and minimise energy and resource consumption, as well as to reduce impacts along the life cycle of the building. This manuscript presents insights into combined/integrated environmental and seismic retrofitting techniques and assessment methods for the sustainable renovation of the existing building stock, specifically focussing on those conceived according to a Life Cycle Thinking (LCT) approach. This manuscript goes beyond the current available state of the art by highlighting the evolution of the concept of building sustainability throughout time, as well as defining a comprehensive taxonomy of available retrofitting strategies, while also identifying common clusters among available research papers. This research effort is part of the mission of the European Association of Earthquake Engineering (EAEE) Working Group 15 (WG15), which focusses on ‘combined seismic and environmental upgrading of existing buildings”.

Do water risk management strategies lead to environmental upgrading in global value chains? A view from South Africa's export fruit industry

Environmental upgrading is becoming increasingly important in terms of leveraging sustainability in global value chains (GVCs). Existing research focuses on environmental upgrading as a process, while the drivers and outcomes often remain unclear. We address this limitation through a qualitative case study of the South African fruit industry based on interviews and documents, where we investigate the drivers and outcomes of environmental upgrading strategies with a focus on irrigation water use and sustainability. We share three important findings in our paper, which contribute to the literature. First, we identify environmental risk as an important driver for environmental upgrades that has so far been overlooked. Second, we question the current focus of environmental upgrading strategies on technological interventions. Focusing on technological interventions alone, however, is insufficient to address local and global challenges regarding water resources sustainability. Our third finding emphasises the need to consider the wider environmental and political economic context within which environmental upgrading takes place. This is because environmental upgrading strategies can actively contribute to the development of environmental risks for other actors, within or beyond value chains, and therefore have clear limits in their contribution to increasing sustainability.

Investigating the Nexus of Control of Corruption, Green Finance, and Environmental Upgradation in Developed Economies

This comprehensive study investigates the intricate relationships among three pivotal components: green finance, corruption control, and ecological footprint, with the primary objective of revealing the synergies shaping sustainable development. The research examines how environmentally aligned financial practices, effective anti-corruption measures, and responsible resource management collectively influence the ecological footprint within the top 10 developed economies, offering insights into strategies for fostering sustainable growth. Ecological footprint (EFT) data was obtained from the Global Footprint Network, while green finance (GFIN) data was sourced from the Asian Development Bank. The panel data used in the study spanned 18 years from 2000 to 2018 for the 10 selected countries. To address issues of endogeneity and unobserved heterogeneity, the system generalized method of moments (GMM) was employed for hypothesis testing. By employing advanced modeling techniques, particularly the system generalized method of moments, the study verifies the positive impact of green finance in reducing the ecological footprint and carbon emissions, providing actionable insights for policymakers and practitioners in the OECD. Formulating two hypotheses, it assesses the positive relationship between green finance (GFIN) and ecological footprint (EFT) while considering control variables, and the negative relationship between GFIN and carbon emissions (CO2). Furthermore, it underscores the significance of control variables, such as control of corruption, population, GDP, and trade openness, in influencing ecological footprints and carbon emissions. These findings contribute invaluable insights for policymakers and stakeholders, guiding the path toward sustainable practices and a greener future in developed nations.

Spatiotemporal Dynamics in Economic, Social, and Environmental Upgrading in China: Coupling Coordination and Influencing Factors

The focus on the concept of upgrading in the study of global production networks has expanded from economic upgrading to encompass social and environmental upgrading. However, rare research pays attention to the complex interplay among these three aspects. This paper tries to integrate the economic, social, and environmental upgrading into an analytical framework through the lens of coupling coordination. Using the Granger causality test and panel regression model, it provides empirical evidence and an explanation of the triad’s interaction based on the Chinese case study. It is found that, over the past twenty-five years from 1996 to 2020, China has seen a significant improvement in the coupling coordination of economic, social, and environmental upgrading with the coordination degree rising from 0.35 to 0.51, though it remains at a low level of coordination. Regional disparities in economic upgrading are more pronounced than those in social and environmental upgrading, and the inter-group disparities between economic and environmental upgrading have widened following the economic crisis. Panel regression analysis shows that economic globalization, public governance, legal environment, and environmental regulation positively influence the coupling coordination of the three types of upgrading, while economic privatization and corporate violations of law tend to have a negative impact.

Socio-Economic Barriers to Adopting Energy-Saving Bioclimatic Strategies in a Mediterranean Sustainable Real Estate Setting: A Quantitative Analysis of Resident Perspectives

In response to escalating environmental challenges, this research underscores the pivotal role of sustainable construction practices, particularly focusing on bioclimatic design as a foundational element within the realm of sustainable architecture and environmental upgrading of buildings, within the broader context of sustainable urban planning. The study delves into the perspectives of residents in Cyprus concerning bioclimatic building design. Employing a quantitative methodology, the investigation aims to comprehensively assess homeowner views on the benefits, motivations, concerns, and preferred techniques associated with bioclimatic design. By comprehending these perspectives and contextual factors, this study identifies obstacles hindering broader implementation and illuminates why adoption remains limited, despite the potential for substantial energy and emissions reductions. The research also examines the background of respondents, such as heating/cooling systems, energy expenses, and upgrade preferences, to provide essential context for the findings. A structured questionnaire was administered to a stratified sample of 150 pedestrians in the Pafos area, ensuring a representative cross-section of the local population. This method allowed for a robust examination of demographic influences on opinions and an in-depth analysis of the impact of residential characteristics. The findings reveal a substantial influence of cost considerations in shaping decisions related to residential property development and the renovation of existing structures, contributing to the limitation of widespread adoption across the island. This influence persists even as a majority of respondents express a readiness to undertake building energy upgrades, among which, the most popular actions include the installation of specialized glass, the replacement of traditional air conditioning units with inverters, and the adoption of energy-efficient lighting. The research culminates in the proposal that introducing financial incentives has the potential to enhance homeowner participation in bioclimatic and energy upgrades. This recommendation is particularly salient in the climatic context of Cyprus, where the implementation of solar control measures emerges as a promising avenue for bolstering energy efficiency. In considering the socio-economic dimensions implicit in these findings, it becomes evident that the interplay between financial considerations and sustainable construction practices is a critical aspect. The identified barriers underscore the necessity for nuanced strategies and policy frameworks that address the socio-economic dimensions of bioclimatic design adoption. In this context, the study contributes to the existing body of knowledge by shedding light on the intricate relationship between financial factors and sustainable architectural practices, offering implications for future research endeavors and potential avenues for policy interventions.

Developing nexus between economic opening-up, environmental regulations, rent of natural resources, green innovation, and environmental upgrading of China - empirical analysis using ARDL bound-testing approach

With increasing demand for green growth globally, the escalating economic growth of China is also needed to be accompanied with environmental protection. From an environmental upgrading perspective, current study developed a nexus amid Green Total Factor Energy Productivity (GTFEP), Economic Opening-up (EOU), Environmental Regulations (ER), Rent of Natural Resources (RNR) and Green Innovation (GI) of China. Using annual data from 1990 to 2020 and applying a bound testing approach for Auto-regressive Distributed Lag model (ARDL) along with an error correction model, current study investigated short and long run dynamics amid variables of concern. The results confirmed cointegration between GTFEP and all other variables, and Granger causality analysis revealed uni-directional causality, running from independent variables towards GTFEP. Concluding the results, both long and short-run findings suggested effectiveness of EOU, ER, RNR and GI on GTFEP of China, and the results are statistically significant. Thus, the policies should be aimed to improve opening-up, environmental regulations and green innovation.

A Computational Fluid Dynamics Modelling Approach for the Numerical Verification of the Bioclimatic Design of a Public Urban Area in Greece

Recent recordings of urban overheating reveal a dramatic increase in cities’ population exposure to heatwaves. Heatwaves’ implications are escalated in urban environments due to the intensification of the Urban Heat Island (UHI) effect. To combat the overheating and UHI adverse effects, novel urban rehabilitation actions are needed based on reliable predictions of appropriate Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) (such as pedestrian-level air temperature and thermal comfort) for alternative design scenarios. The objective of the current study is to present the application of a previously developed Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) model for the calculation of urban microclimatic conditions for the assessment of the UHI and thermal-comfort conditions in a central urban area in the city of Heraklion in Crete, Greece. Empirical validation of the model is performed through comparisons with monitored microclimate data (i.e., air temperature, relative humidity, wind speed) and actual sensation vote recordings found in another research study. In compliance with the latter, the validation campaign is conducted for a typical hot summer day in July 2009 from 10:00 to 16:00. The model is then used to assess the UHI effects for both the existing urban configuration and a given suggested environmental upgrade of the space. Simulations of the existing situation reveal that the squares located in the studied area already stand for efficient resistances to urban overheating, and heat vulnerabilities are detected mainly in non-shaded traffic and pedestrian roads perimetric to the squares. Based on the CFD simulations, the suggested environmental upgrading plan exhibits a reduction in the peak mean air temperature of 0.46 °C, and thermal comfort is improved by at least 5% (based on SET) throughout the studied area in summer. At the same time, simulations of winter conditions suggest that there are limited potential pedestrian thermal-sensation and building heating penalties under the considered renovation scenario.

Research Status, Hotspots, and Trend Analysis of the Rural Living Environment Upgrade in China from 1992 to 2022: A Bibliometric and Narrative Review Analysis

The rural living environment is the foundation of rural ecology and rural residents’ life, and the quality of the rural living environment is directly related to the green and low-carbon development of rural areas and the physical and mental health of rural residents. This article aims to grasp the current situation and of rural living environment improvement research and its various research hotspots, explore research frontiers and trends, and provide crucial theoretical guidance for rural living environment improvement research by searching and analyzing China’ national knowledge infrastructure database (CNKI). The article adopts CiteSpace6.2 bibliometric software and the narrative review method to analyze 1349 papers on rural living environment upgrading in CNKI from 1992 to 2022. Among them, the narrative review collects and analyzes the relevant information on rural living environment improvement to provide the background and content for the relevant arguments. It is found that (1) the rural living environment governance policies can be divided into four stages, namely, the initial stage, policy exploration, policy enhancement, and policy deepening, with the policy system continuously maturing and the governance content becoming clearer; (2) research hot topics can be summarized as research on the connotation and governance model of the rural living environment, research on development status, research on effective evaluation and influential factors, and research on treatment model and technology involving interdisciplinary integration development; (3) the rural living environment upgrade research history can be divided into three periods: before 2004, which was the start-up stage, thus the number of publications was relatively small, and core topics included the transformation of rural toilets and rural domestic sewage treatment; 2004–2017, which is the expansion stage, thus the total amount of literature is increasing yearly, and the research topics are gradually enriched; after 2018, which is the the mature development stage, further clarifying the key tasks of rural living environment upgrades; (4) in the future, it is necessary to keep the focus on research in the four key areas, deepen the research on governance connotation, influential factors, and effect evaluation, explore the typical models of rural living environment construction in China, and provide research guidelines and practical decisions for rural living environment governance.

The horizontal governance of environmental upgrading: Lessons from the Prosecco and Valpolicella wine value chains in Italy

Much of the literature on environmental sustainability in global value chains (GVCs) focuses on how ‘lead firms’ (usually global buyers or retailers) can improve the environmental conditions of production among their various layers of suppliers. This approach focuses on the vertical governance dynamics of environmental upgrading along with GVCs. In our contribution, we emphasize the role of horizontal governance as a driver that underpins environmental upgrading processes. These horizontal elements include institutional support, pressure from civil society groups and political dynamics at the local level – which have been relatively overlooked in this literature so far. We examine environmental upgrading in Italian wine value chains, focusing on the fast-growing but environmentally-contested Prosecco and Valpolicella districts. Our analysis suggests that firms within the same industry may follow different processes of environmental upgrading – through certification, going ‘back to tradition’, technological innovation and/or as an articulation of local politics – also depending on their size. We conclude that horizontal governance is playing a more important role than previously thought in shaping environmental upgrading and provide some suggestions for future research in this realm.

Anthropological Study of a Typical Drought-Prone Village in India: Strategies for Sustainable Rural Habitat

Drought-prone villages are constantly facing the challenges of agricultural productivity, lack of alternative livelihood opportunities due to ecological vulnerability, predominance of wasteland, inadequate water supply, and absence of physical and socio-cultural infrastructure. The study aims to develop a comprehensive policy framework to mitigate the socio-economic and environmental issues against the threat. The methodology comprises an anthropological study from micro to macro level to synthesize the dynamics of drought in the economic, ecological, and socio-cultural indices of a typical agrarian village of Purulia District in West Bengal, India. The results illustrate ecological susceptibility such as extreme climatic condition, futile wasteland cover, rocky undulating landform, top soil erosion, and human-made contingencies including deforestation, absence of water conservation practices, over utilization of existing water bodies resulting in water scarcity, loss of biodiversity, and absence of major agrarian livelihood. Lack of alternative livelihood practices such as agro-forestry and non-farm activities, appropriate knowledge regarding drought mitigation, sustainable living practices, inadequate physical infrastructure. and pressing issues in housing with population growth results in degradation of socio-economic profile of the residents, loss of natural resource. and poor socio-spatial livability quotient. It also increases the risk of habitat loss with regular drought occurrence. The study can be further adapted and strengthened according to varied rural settlements according to their geographical context, climatic vulnerability, predominant livelihood contingencies, and socio-cultural resonance. Most research in this domain focuses on the geophysical and meteorological parameters while the anthropo-geographical aspects such as local ecology, indigenous livelihood patterns, and native strategies of drought management are largely overlooked. The policy framework has been suggested to facilitate an integrated measure for the ecological and economic sustainability against drought with diversified livelihood opportunities, environmental upgradation, and augmentation of physical infrastructure. This policy can be further strengthened with retrofitting strategies of housing for future expansion and optimization of socio-cultural spaces to foster a sustainable economy, cohesive socio-cultural well-being, and resource optimization.

Economic and environmental upgrading after a policy reform: The case of timber value chain in Myanmar

Commitments to curb illegal logging and deforestation have proliferated in recent years with the increase of global trade in tropical timber and wood products. While they reflect international sustainability demands, the employed mechanisms to assure timber legality verification may not reflect conditions faced by local private sector actors. Facing rapid forest loss and limited foreign market access, government of Myanmar started reforming its forest policy to include a system of timber legality verification. Drawing on policy analysis and mixed-methods field research, we evaluate the feasibility of the policy reform to achieve economic and environmental upgrading in the timber value chain. Our findings question the transformative capacity of this policy reform. Not only that it failed to meet its sustainability goals, it has also created favourable conditions for a race to the bottom and concentration in the timber value chain. Economic and environmental upgrading take place at the expense of private smallholders who are expected to address a range of obstacles, including limited access to inputs, quality downgrading, and increased operational costs, which hamper their performance. To prevent socio-environmental losses, forest-sector regulatory reforms should be particularly mindful of these challenges in the midstream segment of the value chain.

Grow First, Clean Up Later? Dropping Old Paradigms and Opening Up New Horizons of Sustainable Development

After almost two decades of continuous development in bio, circular, and green economy, it is time to assess the major achievements and challenges that private and public enterprises face today for further enhancing global sustainability concepts. To this end, the present thematic issue accommodates twenty articles on different topics related to circular economy development and green growth, proposing a contribution to the field of environmental economics and policy. The central feature of this Special Issue is the focus on the best practices and challenges in terms of green growth and eco-innovation in developing and transitioning structurally challenged areas. Hence, the study elaborates on the pathways of bio, circular, and green growth and eco-innovation in the context of countries with relatively low per capita income. By doing this, the collection shows that the empirically established environmental Kuznets curve—i.e., the inverted U-shaped income-environment nexus—can and must be critically questioned, at least in the contexts mentioned within the framework of our Special Issue. Hence, the geographic frontiers of environmental upgrading, carbon-saving bioeconomic development, and green growth are not limited to the economically advanced areas.

Bioeconomy as a promise of development? The cases of Argentina and Malaysia

All bioeconomy strategies contain certain claims and promises, though these differ from one world region to another. Proceeding from an analysis of bioeconomy debates and the appropriation of the concept by key actors in Argentina and Malaysia, we argue that both countries regard the bioeconomy as a development strategy primarily geared towards the industrial upgrading of agricultural value chains. Its aim is to increase value added in the soy (Argentina) and palm oil (Malaysia) commodity chains by adding further domestic processing steps and developing new branches of industry. This is to lead to social and environmental upgrading and enable the countries to outgrow their subordinate role as biomass exporters. Referring to the world-systems approach and the global value chain literature, we argue that such upgrading strategies must be understood in the context of the hierarchical global division of labour and the position of individual countries in global markets. We show that the promises of industrial, social and environmental upgrading associated with hegemonic bioeconomy visions in Argentina and Malaysia have failed to materialise. Very few new jobs were created, while soybean and palm oil production continue to rely on environmentally harmful techniques. The socioecological long-term costs of the current production model remain unaddressed and unresolved, primarily because property relations and the underlying profit-oriented production model based on mechanisation, monocropping and a greater use of pesticides are never questioned. Should Argentina and Malaysia continue on their current paths, their chances of attaining the bioeconomy’s purported socioeconomic and environmental goals are very slim.

Climate change and the transformative potential of value chains

Global value chains (GVCs) hold important potential for transformations to sustainability in a context of climate change. Yet, their potential for sustainability may depend on whether, and how, promising individual innovations can foster broader change, disrupting the current unsustainable, inequitable values and paradigms in which they are enmeshed. In this article, I present an action research study of a global coffee value chain, extending geographically from Guatemala to North America. I describe the lead firm's relational governance, a defining characteristic of which is its mentoring-driven approach to social and environmental upgrading, in which producers and buyers collaborate, learn together, and mutually solve problems, in a context of overlapping economic, social, and environmental challenges. Three key strategies for relational governance used by the lead firm include fostering collaboration and trust, providing support for producing regions, and buying above the cost of production. I examine how this relational governance has been helpful in responding to the interconnected challenges and unexpected global-change phenomena, such as climate change as well as the COVID-19 pandemic, in the coffee sector. Findings suggest that this relational governance approach helped actors to respond generatively to unprecedented, shared challenges and helped support greater sustainability overall.

Using the global value chain framework to analyse and tackle global environmental crises

Climate crises are being experienced all over the world and appear to be accelerating as “extreme weather” events become the “new normal.” In today’s world economy, where trade and production activities are internationally dispersed and prone to disruptions, the global value chain (GVC) framework provides a systematic approach to understand and combat environmental crises and to advance sustainable development options across global, regional, and local scales. A vast “implementation deficit” characterizes sustainability efforts to date. The GVC framework incorporates firm and policymaker perspectives in a multistakeholder approach that offers multiple building blocks for a progressive environmental agenda, including: a multi-actor perspective to define sustainability; measuring it across diverse geographic scales; analysis of both environmental upgrading and downgrading; distinguishing motivations, actions, and outcomes when assessing environmental performance; viewing GVC resilience in terms of the interplay of economic and environmental forces; and highlighting how context matters in analyzing national, industry, and geopolitical factors.

The investigation of EKC within CO2 emissions framework: Empirical evidence from selected cross-correlated countries

The present study investigates the relationship between economic growth, globalization, population density, energy consumption, trade openness, and carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions under the Environmental Kuznets Curve (EKC) framework for selected highly cross-correlated countries (Middle East and North Africa-MENA) from 1994 to 2014. The control variables are used based on previous empirical research. Cross-sectional dependence tests, cointegration analysis, panel data estimators (models with Driskoll-Kraay standard errors, FGLS, FMOLS, and DOLS), and Granger causality are performed. Empirical findings validate the EKC hypothesis and suggest that energy use significantly and negatively contributes to environmental quality. Moreover, globalization increases environmental degradation, whereas trade openness and population density may reduce carbon dioxide emissions within MENA economies. Policy implications towards economic growth decoupled from fossil fuels could benefit environmental upgrades and sustainability.

Lithic devotionality and other aesthetic strata: Buddhist garden shrines in rural Java

In this article I explore the contemporary practice of establishing garden shrines in Buddhist rural Java. While on the surface the placement of shrines follows the demands of environmental upgrading and beautification strategies, often in accord with eco-tourist imaginaries, the practice reveals a complex aggregation of material and discursive threads. The article situates the project, ethnographically, as a sensorial practice in which environmental awareness and a sense of “atmosphere” are directly involved. This perceptual domain, particularly the relationship of the villagers to the Sakyamuni statuettes, is simultaneously articulated in continuity with the religious field of Javanese Buddhism, as it encompasses notions of sacralization and rituality. I recover the idea of aesthetic practice in order to bring these sensorial stems on a common platform. In blending discursive and materialist approaches, the article converses with the idea of strata as devised by Deleuze and Guattari as a pivotal image in their work on rhizomes. Through the concept of stratification, I argue, it is possible to apprehend Buddhist shrines as cultural formations in which “everything is involved,” that is, as multiplicities in which layers of materiality and discourse are intertwined in meaningful and generative ways.

Pathway to green growth: A panel-ARDL model of environmental upgrading, environmental regulations, and GVC participation for the Chinese manufacturing industry

Since the opening up of China, its manufacturing sector contributed significantly toward economic development on one hand and caused elevated environmental pollution and heavy resource consumption problems on the other hand. Green productivity is an essential means of addressing environmental problems and promoting sustainable environmental performance and long-term economic growth. When the factors affecting the green total factor energy productivity (GTFEP) are studied in recent years, the hitherto literature lacks the relationship between GTFEP, environmental regulations, and global value chain (GVC) participation. Using GTFEP as a proxy of environmental upgrading for the Chinese manufacturing industry, this study investigates the nexus between the GTFEP, environmental regulation index (ERI), and total production length index (TPLI). Based on panel data 18 industries from 2000 to 2014, the current study employed the panel pool mean group estimators for the auto-regressive distributed lag model (ARDL) and estimated the long-run relationship between variables. Findings revealed the positive effect of ERI and GVC participation (TPLI) on the GTFEP of the Chinese manufacturing industry. Furthermore, pairwise panel causativeness analysis indicated unidirectional causality between GTFEP and ERI, running from GTFEP to ERI. Based on research findings, some conclusions and policy implications are derived, such as strict enforcement of environmental regulations, industry-specific policies, promotion of clean energy resources, and acceleration of the country’s further opening-up and reforms. All of these will help promulgate the GTFEP and environmental upgrading of the Chinese manufacturing sector, thus leading to sustainable economic development decoupled from environmental pollution.

The Carbon Emission Trading Policy of China: Does It Really Boost the Environmental Upgrading?

China’s rapid industrialization has led to massive resource consumption, and the country has recently been highlighted as the World’s top carbon emitter. To pursue a sustainable economy via environmental upgrading, reductions in carbon emission levels are of great concern. The carbon emission reduction policy (CETP) is an environmental regulation aimed at cutting emissions and achieving environmental protection. Based on panel data of pilot and non-pilot regions, this study investigated the policy impact of the CETP on carbon emission reduction through difference-in-differences (DID). The findings, based on pooled OLS (ordinary least squares) and LSDV (least square dummy variable) regressions, revealed that the carbon emissions of the pilot regions (Beijing, Tianjin, Shanghai, Guangdong, Chongqing, and Hubei) had reduced by 12 percent more than the non-pilot regions. Thus, this implies that the CETP causes environmental upgrading. The results were further verified using a number of robustness checks, including parallel trends, placebo test, Granger causality test, and DID regression with a longer sample period. Based on the study findings, it was concluded that to achieve higher upgrade levels related to the environment, the CETP needs to be encouraged and improved for nationwide implementation. Furthermore, sustainable economic development in China also needs strict environmental regulations and policy measures.

Environmental Upgrading and Downgrading in Global Value Chains: A Framework for Analysis

A key concern of the global value chain (GVC) and global production network (GPN) literature relates to whether and how actors, especially in the Global South, upgrade by generating and capturing more value. To date, such research has predominantly focused on the economic and social aspects of upgrading. In this article, we leverage selected insights from economic geography to advance our understanding of the environmental dimensions of upgrading and downgrading in GVCs and GPNs. We develop an analytical framework that distinguishes the processes of environmental upgrading, in terms of value creation and appropriation, from the resultant outcomes (biophysical manifestations, impacts on market access, and reputation). Furthermore, the framework is considered from the upgrading perspectives of multiple actors instead of focusing only on lead firms and other powerful actors. We illustrate how to apply this framework through a case study of the Kenya–UK horticulture value chains. We show that despite the uptake of environmental upgrading practices, as required by UK supermarkets and transmitted by Kenyan export firms with the facilitation of government agencies, Kenyan farmers have mostly experienced environmental downgrading, with some negative effects also affecting farmers and other resource users beyond the value chain.