ESG Practices in Agribusiness as Part of the Knowledge Transfer Within Global Value Chains

Bulgaria's agricultural sector plays a decisive role in the country's transition to sustainability and carbon neutrality and to the implementation of the green transition, because it is one of the sectors identified as the “culprit” for increasing the level of carbon emissions. Reducing emissions from agricultural activity through the use of “green measures” is becoming a challenge that requires innovative solutions. A large portion of the production of agricultural products and their further processing is organized within global value chains (GVC). Environment, social and governance-related (ESG) practices can be considered one of the intangible knowledge flows within the frameworks of the GVCs. In this respect, the objective of the current paper is to analyse the exchange of ESG practices between interrelated companies as part of the knowledge transfer within the global value chains in agribusiness. The analysis is based on a multidisciplinary approach combining quantitative and qualitative indicators generated on the basis of secondary (scientific literature, regulatory framework, statistical databases, media content, and business-reported sustainability information) and primary (unstructured interviews) information sources.