Executive Harbor Talk 2026: Shaping Global Value Chains for Sustainability

Executive Harbour Talk 2026 at Kühne Logistics University, Hamburg

"How to Shape Sustainable Global Value Chains?"

29 June 2026, 16:00–18:00 h | Side event of the Hamburg Sustainability Conference 2026

Results from five roundtables and the plenary discussion

Key theses and assumptions from 24 decision-makers and representatives from business and research, as well as their central demands for strengthening sustainability in global value chains. 

The Executive Harbor Talk is organized by Kühne Logistics University (KLU) and supported by the Ministry of Economics, Labor, and Innovation of the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg.

Compiled by Dr. Norbert Taubken (Scholz & Friends Reputation) based on the event documentation. The panel discussions were moderated by Prof. Dr. Marianne Jahre (KLU), Prof. Dr. Alexa Burmester (KLU), Prof. Dr. Gordon Wilmsmeier (KLU), Betina Sachsse (KLU), and Thomas Sommereisen (Scholz & Friends Reputation).

1. Values perspective: Values set the pace

• The relationship between values and (business) value is the key to more sustainable value creation.
• A company’s values are geared towards long-term success, not short-term effects.
• Values can support, accelerate and in part even replace explicit sustainability targets: Business value can drive sustainability.
• When corporate values are aligned with long-term resilience and holistic risk management, they foster sustainable business practices from within.
• Brand image is sufficient to keep brands on track.

Demands for more sustainability in global value chains

• Less focus on ESG (micro) reporting.
• Put financial value on emissions (→ Carbon Tax)

2. Business perspective: Beyond compliance and the balance sheet

• The current volatile environment is not only a risk for sustainability action, it is also an opportunity. There exist good sustainable business examples.
• Actually, beyond and despite the media and political discussion (especially in Germany), sustainability is more alive than ever.
• The actual economic and geopolitical situation has pushed many industry sectors towards taking a more short-term perspective in business decisions.
• A short-term vision reaction that delays sustainable action usually does not account for the future costs of inaction.
• Sustainable business cases are linked to innovation that makes companies competitive in the long term.

Demands for more sustainability in global value chains

• Companies need to more aware of the future costs of inaction. Deviating from the sustainability pathway and decisions, while potentially successful in the short-term will reduce or limit competitiveness and new market opportunities globally in the long term.
• Business cases will be created through innovation. Thus, taking a long-term perspective on the effects of (sustainable) innovation in companies, including TCO and circular strategies, creates better ground for implementing and scaling new solutions.
• Sustainable strategies and products should be the norm, not the exception. Thus, rather than searching for willingness to pay off clients for more sustainable products, unsustainable options should be the more expensive ones. This requires “finally” advancing to the internalization of external costs.  
• There can be a strong relationship between resilience and sustainability. Thus, we should evaluate what we can learn from companies in emerging economies where sustainability action may emerge in response to specific risks. E.g., a company might decide to produce its own electricity using photovoltaics because grid capacity is unreliable and affects its production.
• We should highlight good examples. Despite all the current developments, some companies continue to proactively pursue the implementation of more sustainable solutions. 

3. Procurement perspective: The evolving mandate of purchasing

• The availability of raw materials and (intermediate) products for a company’s own value creation has become a critical factor.
• Supply chain volatility increases the pressure on procurement to reposition itself.
• Procurement must take into account the considerable costs to the company associated with supply chain disruptions, human rights violations and environmental damage.
• Procurement functions must redefine economic efficiency in order to integrate long-term sustainability aspects and comprehensive risk mitigation into purchasing mechanisms.
• The ESG requirements of investors and banks call for a more comprehensive risk assessment, particularly regarding a company’s own value chains.
• When financial pressure takes priority in companies, this leads to decisions that may make sense in the short term but are critical in the long term.

Demands for more sustainability in global value chains

• Investors and capital markets set the pace: by demanding resilience and comprehensive risk management, they reinforce the fact that ESG topics become an essential component of corporate strategies.
• Awareness in society of the importance of sustainable action must be strengthened. Education can be an important long-term building block for this, as it concerns future generations and can transform society and business.

4. Communications perspective: Credibility through stakeholder dialogue

• Sustainable value creation requires more than stakeholder engagement. It requires communication that creates credibility through transparency.
• In logistics, companies must navigate conflicting expectations from customers, suppliers, regulatory authorities, employees, investors, NGOs, and society — especially when sustainability creates apparent conflicts of interest regarding price, investment, competitiveness, the pace of transformation, safety, and resilience.
• Credibility arises from dialogue with all key stakeholder groups.
• The goal is not to cement the status quo within the company, but to evolve continuously.

Demands for more sustainability in global value chains

• Companies must increase their own transparency regarding their global value chains.
• Stakeholders should be clustered and prioritized to make dealing with different expectations manageable.
• Active listening is important. There must be dialogue formats – also between politics and business – that make this possible for all sides.

5. Regulation perspective: Reality check for regulation

• Regulatory approaches such as the German Supply Chain Act (LkSG) and the CSDDD can be crucial in establishing corporate accountability and creating a global level playing field.
• The impact of regulation depends on how practicable it is designed and the extent to which it also takes business realities into account.
• Regulation must be implemented as globally and uniformly as possible.
• Legal requirements must be designed to be reliably planned and to have as global an effect as possible in order to ensure credibility and feasibility.

Demands for more sustainability in global value chains

• When new regulations are introduced, we need shared ownership from business and regulators.
• In the EU, individual countries such as Germany should explicitly refrain from “gold plating”.
• We want a “coalition of the willing”: global value creation needs global alignment and thus global coalitions and agreements.
• In business, we need more awareness that data transparency is a competitive advantage and thus contributes to the business case.