Measuring the eco-intensity of the supply chain : a novel approach

More than 80% of the environmental impacts in a typical supply chain can arise beyond the focal firm, however models quantifying the environmental performance of supply chains typically measure only direct suppliers and customers rather than extended supply chains that represent the norm in the globalized competitive environment. This work aims to introduce an innovative quantitative approach to assess the eco-intensity of an extended supply chain, allowing to relate the environmental performance of a supply chain to its economic performance. The approach is based on multiple environmental indicators and a decentralized recursive mechanism, making it applicable to non-cooperative supply chains

Supply Chain Carbon Management

Sustainable supply chain and carbon management have seen a growing interest in the last decade due to the increasing concerns about global warming and climate change. Policymakers, researchers, and executives have taken various roles in efforts to better measure and control greenhouse gas emissions. This book chapter aims to discuss the current state of the art, and key motivations for businesses to decrease emissions, and different policies and regulations that have been designed to incentivize carbon reduction and enhance the environmental awareness of all stakeholders. The chapter also examines the methodologies for measuring and managing carbon emissions of an organization and its supply chain. Further, it discusses carbon management issues related to reverse logistics, life cycle assessment and double counting of emissions

Twenty years of carbon accounting and auditing – A review and outlook

This paper aims to provide an overview of the key themes in the development of carbon accounting and auditing over the past twenty years. The evolution of the field since the Kyoto Agreement of 1997 has been divided into four stages. The need to account for and disclosure of greenhouse gas-related emissions of industrial organizations has emerged parallel to growing concerns about climate change, and international and national policy developments in the field have followed. Carbon accounting is an emerging field of business economics and covers a wide range of activities, including the measurement, calculation, monitoring, reporting and auditing of greenhouse gas emissions at organizational, process, product or supply chain levels. Various initiatives (such as the Greenhouse Gas Protocol or the Carbon Disclosure Project) motivate and assist industrial organizations in accounting for and reporting their achievements in the field. Different methodologies of carbon accounting (bottom-up, top-down and hybrid) enable industrial organizations to quantify their emissions; however, some trade-offs emerge when choosing among these approaches. Carbon accounting should not be an isolated task for businesses. On the contrary, there is a strong need to integrate carbon accounting issues into different functional fields in order to achieve both corporate and climate policy goals

Benchmarking the environmental performance of supply chains through eco-intensity

The majority of the environmental impacts in a typical supply chain arises beyond the focal firm, thus the need to quantify the environmental performance of extended supply chain. This work aims to introduce a quantitative approach to assess the eco-intensity of products considering the extended supply chain by adopting a decentralized recursive mechanism. The model is validated through a numerical example of a fictitious supply chain adopting secondary data. Products are benchmarked on the basis of their CO2 emissions and water consumption eco-intensity, allowing more informed and sustainable purchasing decisions by customer

Pricing and low-carbon investment decisions in an emission dependent supply chain under a carbon labelling scheme

A low-carbon policy attracts the interests of businesses, consumers, and policy makers. The purpose of this paper is to investigate how a carbon labelling scheme could be integrated into operational decision-making for manufacturers and retailers. Three game theoretic models of a supply chain with one manufacturer and one retailer are built to investigate a manufacturer and retailer’s pricing and investment decision for products with different initial carbon footprints considering consumer environmental awareness. Through a systematic comparison and numerical analysis, the results show that a carbon labelling scheme can significantly reduce the overall carbon emission supply chain and have an initially negative impact on the manufacturer and retailer’s profits. However, in the medium–long run, manufacturers and retailers could yet achieve profitability through continuously investing in low-carbon technology

The design of green supply chains under carbon policies: A literature review of quantitative models

Carbon footprinting of products and services is getting increasing attention due to the growing emphasis on carbon related policies in many countries. As a result, many enterprises are focusing on the design of green supply chains (GSCs) with research on supply chains (SCs) focused not only on cost efficiency, but also on its environmental consequences. The review presented in this paper focuses on the implications of carbon policies on SCs. The concept of content analysis is used to retrieve and analyze the information regarding drivers (carbon policies), actors (for example, manufacturers and retailers), methodologies (mathematical modeling techniques), decision-making contexts (such as, facility location and order quantity), and emission reduction opportunities. The review shows a lack of emissions analysis of SCs that face carbon policies in different countries. The research also focuses on the design of carbon policies for emissions reduction in different operating situations. Some possible research directions are also discussed at the end of this review.A NPRP award NPRP No.5-1284-5-198 from the Qatar National Research Fund (a member of The Qatar Foundation).Scopu

The Effect of Production- Versus Consumption-Based Emission Tax under Demand Uncertainty

Emission tax is an instrument widely adopted by countries and regions to incentivize emission abatement by emission-intensive manufacturers. However, policies differ in the methods using which emissions are accounted for. For example, the Chile emission tax direct penalizes manufacturers for the emissions they generate during their production (production-based emission tax), whereas the Sweden electricity emission tax penalizes the consumption of electricity rather than its production (consumption-based emission tax).The two differing methods have potentially varying implications on manufacturers, their emission abatement decisions, as well as the resulting emission levels, especially when demand uncertainty is involved. In this thesis, I investigate the impact of the two distinct methods by studying a profit-maximizing manufacturer facing stochastic demand. Under either both production-and consumption-based emission tax, the manufacturer’s optimal decisions on its product price, production quantity and emission abatement investment are derived. Interestingly, it is shown that under either tax, an increase in the emission tax can discourage the manufacturer from investing in emission abatement in some cases. The impact of tax rate, abatement technology efficiency and demand uncertainty on the manufacturer’s profitability and abatement decision are also studied. Perhaps surprisingly, higher demand uncertainty may motivate the manufacturer to invest in emission abatement. A case study based on a real-world electricity power generator is provided at the end. Using the case study, I offer further insights into the comparison between the two taxes and find that there exist cases for either tax to dominate the other in terms of both profit and emissions.Master of Science in EngineeringIndustrial engineering, College of Engineering and Computer ScienceUniversity of Michigan-Dearbornhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/140735/1/Final_49698122_Jie Ren's Graduate Thesis.pdfDescription of Final_49698122_Jie Ren's Graduate Thesis.pdf : thesi

Sustainable supply chain governance:A literature review

Governance is one of the core concepts underlying sustainable supply chain (SC). Although governance practices are widely acknowledged and implemented, literature discussing those practices is not as thoroughly organized. The purpose of this paper is therefore to investigate the forms, dynamics, and development of sustainable supply chain governance (SSCG). We reviewed a total of 126 articles in operations and SC management peer-reviewed journals spanning 15 years of recent research. Our literature analysis unveils several key themes concerning the popularity of contractual and relational governance, the role of SC lead firms, the network perspective, and the dynamics of governance mechanisms. At a higher conceptual level, we conclude that there exists a mutually dependent relationship between SSCG and SC complexity. The study summarizes and conceptualizes the recent scholarly conversations about SSCG and offers an agenda for further research.</p

Sustainable supply chain governance:A literature review

Governance is one of the core concepts underlying sustainable supply chain (SC). Although governance practices are widely acknowledged and implemented, literature discussing those practices is not as thoroughly organized. The purpose of this paper is therefore to investigate the forms, dynamics, and development of sustainable supply chain governance (SSCG). We reviewed a total of 126 articles in operations and SC management peer-reviewed journals spanning 15 years of recent research. Our literature analysis unveils several key themes concerning the popularity of contractual and relational governance, the role of SC lead firms, the network perspective, and the dynamics of governance mechanisms. At a higher conceptual level, we conclude that there exists a mutually dependent relationship between SSCG and SC complexity. The study summarizes and conceptualizes the recent scholarly conversations about SSCG and offers an agenda for further research.</p