Supply chain sustainability is an important topic in transnational environmental governance. China plays an unequivocally critical role in this area, thanks to the weight of its economy and its position in a wide range of global supply chains. With its focus on sustainability certification programmes and their adoption in China, Certifying China by Yixian Sun takes a deep dive into the political economy of eco-certification in contemporary China. I am impressed by the author's lean and clean academic prose, as well as the thorough empirical accounts about some of the most ecologically impactful business sectors.
The monograph opens with an overview of transnational sustainability certification programmes, focusing specifically on their uptake in emerging markets (chapter one). Sun then presents, in chapter two, an analytical framework that attends to a suite of actors, from “Northern markets” to “domestic champions” in the Chinese state bureaucracy. The two opening chapters show a clear influence of new institutionalism, as the author examines institutional frameworks and stakeholder relationships in their own rights, thus leaving aside fuzzier issues such as geopolitical contingencies, nationalism, equity and justice.
Next, the three empirical chapters (three through five) present a wide array of evidence. Each chapter concerns one specific sector, i.e. seafood, palm oil and tea. Evidence mainly comes from 106 interviews the author conducted with certification programme employees, NGO staff members, government officials, industry association representatives, research agency associates and other stakeholders (p. 177). These interviews are supplemented with firm-level production data in the seafood sector and a randomized survey experiment in the tea sector. In addition, the chapters are fully referenced with policy documents, news reports, research institute publications and NGO documents, as well as relevant scholarly sources. The empirical richness in these chapters is a commendable feature of this book. Finally, in the conclusion (chapter six), Sun provides a comparative summary of the three sectors and stresses the important role of the state in emerging markets such as China.
Sun has made notable efforts to stay up to date with the changing landscape of sustainability certification in China, factoring in details such as supply chain disruptions under the COVID-19 pandemic. However, some other recent developments appear conspicuously missing. For example, China is becoming increasingly assertive in establishing and promulgating its own certification programs globally, which are most evident through the Belt and Road Initiative but by no means limited to it. In this context, it is curious how Sun chooses to focus exclusively on the diffusion of standards of Western origin into China but not the spread of Chinese certification beyond China, especially noting his recognition that a Chinese homegrown national organic tea certification enjoys widespread support (pp. 133–136). Perhaps a sequel to this volume would do well to examine the globalization of China-made eco-certificates, as the country's leadership seeks to advance its now-global promise of “ecological civilization.”
On a theoretical note, the book leaves ample room for further articulating the role of the state in China's environmental governance. Sun concludes that identifying allies in the state bureaucracy is indispensable for transnational certification bodies to successfully introduce themselves to China (pp. 166–174). Yet Sun recognizes throughout the empirical cases that such allies are often actors embedded in quasi-state agencies like national industry associations. They serve as conduits of information between the government and businesses. Some of their activities may be tacitly endorsed by the state but they are not part of the state, strictly defined. Curiously, Sun has chosen to lump together state and quasi-state actors into the same analytical category, to the point of using these terms interchangeably (pp. 32–33, 133, 153). Furthermore, in almost all of the empirical stories, Sun highlights the prominent role of WWF China – decidedly not a state actor, in spite of its myriad political connections – in facilitating the entry of transnational certifications into China. In other words, there is sufficient empirical ground to unsettle the state–civil society binary and advance a far more nuanced picture of political authority in China's environmental governance. A nuanced view of the Chinese state is needed, not only because the sprawling state apparatus is home to a wide spectrum of environmental attitudes and interests, but because a large body of work has examined the fragmented quality of the Chinese state not as a hindrance but as an opportunity for creative environmental advocacy. Sun rejects “the conventional view that the Chinese state remains hostile to private regulators” (p. 167) but neglects how a fragmented bureaucracy is precisely where one finds both friends and foes.
In all, Certifying China is an excellent first step in addressing a range of questions about China and supply chain sustainability. The book's institutionalist angle will especially appeal to scholars in transnational studies, Earth system governance, and business sustainability in contemporary China. It marks a welcome addition to the literature.
