Voluntary Sustainability Standards (VSS) are transnational governance instru-ments that can be leveraged to pursue sustainable development in global valuechains. They have proliferated since the 1990s in terms of their number and theshare of global production they govern. This paper shares some key insights aris-ing from the considerable body of literature that has analysed the role of theseinstruments for sustainable production and trade. First, it introduces VSS, tracesthe evolution of their adoption and takes stock of the research on their sustain-ability impacts. Next, some major developments in the VSS realm are discussed,related to public policy and the emergence of national sustainability standards.The paper then zooms in on the challenges and limitations of VSS in transformingvalue chains towards sustainability, focusing on the shortcomings related to inclu-siveness and the problems arising from their proliferation. The paper concludesby distilling recommendations on overcoming these challenges, especially in lightof recent policy developments, and outlines what different stakeholders can do tomake VSS more effective and inclusive instruments for sustainable value chains.