Jia Zuo

What sparked your interest in researching sustainability in global value chains?

I started my research interest in sustainability in global value chain since my previous legal profession. As a legal professional, I observed a growing emphasis among lawyers and corporate clients on sustainability reports, especially those published by leading listed companies. These reports were becoming increasingly important as tools for public communication and regulatory compliance. However, I began to question whether these documents genuinely reflected a company's sustainability practices or if they merely served as polished narratives detached from on-the-ground realities.

This skepticism deepened during my subsequent experience working as a legal manager in Africa. There, I witnessed firsthand the vast disparity in sustainability practices across different developing regions. The challenges faced by local businesses in implementing sustainable practices were starkly different from those I had encountered in Beijing. This contrast highlighted how global sustainability standards often fail to account for regional contexts and practical constraints.

These experiences led me to explore how sustainability is interpreted, implemented, and reported across the global value chain - particularly how legal frameworks, corporate governance, and socioeconomic factors influence sustainability practices in both developed and developing regions.

The questions existed in the practice spark my strong interest in understanding the underlying mechanism for regulating unsustainable development in global value chain. People should start doing, no just talking! My research aims to bridge the gap between sustainability theory and real-world application, ensuring that global standards are not only aspirational but also achievable and meaningful across diverse contexts.

What is the focus of your current research, and what impact do you hope it will have?

My current research focuses on sustainability activities and management innovations within the global critical mineral supply chain. Critical minerals - such as the 3TG (tin, tungsten, tantalum, and gold), cobalt, and others - are essential for powering the green economy, advancing technology, and enabling the future of sustainable transportation. However, every major stage in their lifecycle - from extraction and refining to reprocessing and recycling - carries significant and lasting impacts on both the environment and local communities.

What makes this area particularly compelling is the complexity and opacity of the global critical mineral supply chain. It is a highly fragmented, geographically dispersed, and interdependent system. This opacity often obscures the social and environmental consequences experienced by underdeveloped regions, where mining activities can lead to severe environmental degradation, exploitation of local labor, and the marginalization of indigenous communities.

To address these pressing issues, my research investigates how different legal frameworks - particularly in the EU and China - regulate their supply chains and influence sustainability practices at various levels. I explore several key questions: How do these jurisdictions ensure compliance with due diligence requirements? What innovative practices have emerged among actors within the global supply chain to promote sustainability? What role do commodity traders play in shaping supply chain transparency and accountability? And how are corporations adapting their strategies in response to growing geopolitical uncertainties and investment risks?

Through this research, I aim to deepen our understanding of the diverse approaches to sustainability management within global value chains. I also hope to contribute valuable empirical insights and policy-relevant analysis that can inform both corporate governance and international regulatory development. Ultimately, my goal is to support the creation of more equitable, resilient, and transparent supply chains that are responsive to both environmental imperatives and the needs of affected communities.

What do you see as the biggest knowledge gaps in sustainable global value chains?

In my view, the biggest knowledge gap in sustainable global value chains lies in understanding the full global impact of supply chain activities - particularly the social consequences in remote and less-visible regions. While companies often emphasize their own ESG practices, they frequently overlook conditions in upstream areas, such as labor exploitation or community displacement in distant sourcing regions. This lack of transparency makes it difficult to evaluate how sustainability policies affect local communities and can result in the misguided application of one-size-fits-all solutions.

How do you hope to collaborate with others in this research network?

In my empirical research on the critical mineral supply chain, I hope to collaborate closely with European buyer firms as well as Chinese suppliers and intermediate commodity traders. Engaging directly with these industry actors will allow me to better understand how sustainability practices are implemented on the ground and how different regulatory and market pressures shape corporate behavior across the global value chains. Within the research network, I look forward to working under the supervision of the chair and collaborating with other postdoctoral researchers. I am eager to contribute to this joint project by sharing insights from my fieldwork, and conducting comparative studies that examine sustainability governance from multiple institutional and inter-organizational perspectives. I believe this collaboration will enrich both my doctoral research and the broader goals of the network.