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Article

Digitally-Enabled Carbon Reduction in Plastics Supply Chain Based on Literature Review Method

by
Changping Zhao
1,2,
Bill Wang
3,*,
Maliyamu Saidula
4,
Yu Gong
5 and
Mohammed Alharithi
6
1
Business School, Shanghai Normal University Tianhua College, Shanghai 201815, China
2
Changshu Institute of Technology, Changshu 215500, China
3
Institute of Innovation & Supply Chain Development, College of Business and Public Management, Wenzhou Kean University, Wenzhou 325060, China
4
College of Economic and Management, Shihezi University, Shihezi 832003, China
5
Southampton Business School, University of Southampton, Southampton SO17 3QY, UK
6
Department of Management, College of Business Administration, Prince Sattam Bin Abdulaziz University, Al-Kharj 11942, Saudi Arabia
*
Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Sustainability 2025, 17(6), 2472; https://doi.org/10.3390/su17062472
Submission received: 3 November 2024 / Revised: 1 March 2025 / Accepted: 7 March 2025 / Published: 11 March 2025
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Digital Economy and Sustainable Development)
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Abstract

:
The issue of carbon emissions in the plastic supply chain has attracted global attention, and relevant countries have formulated and introduced economic policies and measures to reduce plastic carbon emissions. To solve this dilemma, some scholars have proposed the path of empowering the plastic supply chain through digital technology to achieve carbon reduction. However, there are few research results on the mechanism of digital technology empowering the carbon reduction of the plastic supply chain. This paper analyzes the results of carbon reduction research in digitally enabled supply chains through a bibliometric review method. Using the keywords of digitally enabled, plastic supply chain, and carbon footprint, the relevant literature of Web of Science was collected, and the research trends, keyword co-occurrence phenomena, and research hotspots were analyzed by VOSviewer. The findings of this study form six clusters of carbon reduction and digitalization research results in the plastic supply chain, from which we derive six future research directions in the field, such as “carbon emission reduction in the consumer side of the plastics supply chain”, “The development of digital industrialization of carbon emission reduction” etc. The contribution of this article lies in constructing a theoretical framework model for digital technology empowering carbon reduction in the plastic supply chain, which provides a theoretical basis for governments and plastic industry enterprises to promote carbon neutrality.

1. Introduction

Plastic waste pollution has become an urgent global crisis affecting the sustainable development of human society [1]. Being one of the most remarkable inventions of mankind, plastic has now become an essential synthetic material in our daily lives and is extensively employed in industrial manufacturing, owing to its immense usefulness. A study by the journal Science in 2020 showed that the world currently produces 380 million tons of plastic waste per year, with about 11 million tons flowing into the oceans each year [2]. Meanwhile, 10% of the world’s oil is used to produce plastic, which not only consumes non-renewable energy, but its production, recycling, and disposal generate large amounts of greenhouse gases [3]. The carbon footprint is defined as a measure of the amount of greenhouse gases caused by human or non-human activities [4]. According to expert estimates, if plastics production, use, waste generation, and waste management continue along the historical trajectory, an estimated 12 billion metric tons of plastic waste will have accumulated on the planet by 2050 [5]. By the end of the century, plastic-related emissions could account for half of the total carbon budget. Plastics pollute the environment and increase carbon emissions due to low recycling rates of plastic waste and low energy efficiency of production operations. According to the United Nations Environment Program, the global recycling rate in 2015 was only about 19.5% [6]. Thus, developing a circular economy, building a sustainable supply chain for plastics, increasing the recycling rate, and improving the operational efficiency of the supply chain can help control plastic waste pollution and reduce carbon emissions.
Emerging digital technologies such as big data analytics, artificial intelligence, blockchain, cloud computing, and the Internet of Things (IoT), which are centered on digital data, are reshaping the supply chain system of the manufacturing industry, transforming the production methods of enterprises at an unimaginable speed and scale, prompting the digital transformation of the enterprise supply chain, and creating sustainable competitive advantages and economic value [7]. On the one hand, these new digital technologies are applied to the production operations of enterprises to optimize the processes of production, manufacturing, operations, and marketing; on the other hand, digital technologies reduce the inventory and logistics costs of the supply chain from the perspective of collaborative integration while creating new market value through empowering business models. Digital technology enhances the strength of inter-company relationships through digital empowerment, realizing the synergy and complementarity among enterprises, which in turn innovates the ecosystem of enterprises and reshapes the strategic paradigm of the supply chain. Some scholars have explored the paths and mechanisms of digital technology empowerment for each major function in the supply chain [8]; others have studied the mechanisms of digital empowerment diffusion and business model innovation [9,10]. As the research progresses, scholars gradually start to focus their perspectives on specific industries and the circular economy [11]. The rapid development of the plastics industry has brought about white pollution and carbon emission problems, and it especially needs to practice circular economy and sustainable development to reduce carbon emissions. The question of whether and how digital technology can enable carbon emission reduction in the plastics supply chain, and the conditions for digital enabling carbon emission reduction, has attracted increasing attention from academia, yet remains to be answered.
The core issue of this paper is to explore how digital technology can enable carbon reduction in the plastics supply chain. Since carbon neutrality and digital empowerment are two emerging hot topics, the cross-fertilization research is still in its initial stage.
The primary contributions of this study can be summarized as follows: Firstly, this research utilizes bibliometric analysis to comprehensively and systematically organize and analyze the literature in related fields, effectively summarizing the achievements in this area. Secondly, based on an in-depth analysis, the theoretical model of carbon emission reduction in the digitally empowered plastic supply chain is further synthesized and constructed. This model not only offers theoretical support for comprehending the carbon emission issue in the plastic supply chain but also lays a firm groundwork for subsequent empirical research. Finally, considering the current research gaps and future development trends, this study proposes potential future research directions, aiming to provide valuable references and guidance for relevant scholars and practitioners, thereby promoting the sustainable and in-depth development of digital carbon reduction in the plastic supply chain.
This research aims to answer the following questions.
(1)
How has the research on carbon emission reduction in plastic supply chains evolved?
(2)
What are the research hotspots for digitally enabling carbon emission reduction in plastic supply chains?
(3)
How can digitalization enable carbon reduction in the plastics supply chain?
(4)
What are the trends of digital empowerment and carbon reduction research in the plastics supply chain?
By combining the above four questions, this paper answers the core questions of this study and provides theoretical guidance for reducing the carbon footprint of the plastic supply chain. The remainder of the paper is organized as follows. Section 2 systematically introduces the research methods; Section 3 analyzes the knowledge map and answers the first two questions; Section 4, the theoretical model of this paper is condensed by answering the third question; Section 5, discusses the research trends and prospects in this field to answer the fourth question. Finally, Section 6 summarizes the conclusion, contributions, and deficiencies.

2. Research Methods

2.1. Data Collection

The literature data of this paper comes from the Web of Science database. This paper chooses VOSviewer 1.6.18 as the visual analysis tool for bibliometrics, which has been widely applied in existing research. The research steps are shown in Figure 1, and the specific steps are as follows: (1) Collecting literature. Subject retrieval conditions: topic = digital empowerment “or” supply chain carbon footprint “or” plastic supply chain, leading to the identification of 4683 articles. The deadline for literature collection is 31 August 2024; (2) screening documents, removing invalid documents, and making 4627 articles visible; (3) intensive reading of documents. In order to ensure the validity and reliability of the obtained data, the literature closely related to this research topic was carefully screened and deeply analyzed. Specifically, 32 highly cited articles were selected, primarily published in internationally renowned and high-quality academic journals such as “Nature” and “Science” and their sub-journals. Through manual screening and comparison of these articles, the specific mechanisms and action paths of digital technology in carbon footprint management of the empowered plastic supply chain are systematically sorted out and summarized.

2.2. Bibliometrics Analysis

Bibliometrics is an interdisciplinary approach to quantitative analysis of knowledge domains through mathematical and statistical methods, focusing on describing, evaluating, and predicting the current state and trends of knowledge by analyzing the number of features in the literature [12]. The knowledge graph is a comprehensive analysis method that combines traditional bibliometrics and modern text mining techniques. The analysis of keyword co-occurrence and keyword clustering enables scholars to explore the research pedigree, research hotspots, and research frontiers of specific research fields, which will help better carry out future research. Therefore, this paper chooses VOSviewer as a visual analysis tool for bibliometrics. VOSviewer is a bibliometrics and analysis software program for constructing knowledge graphs, the core principle of which is to mine “co-occurrence and clustering” based on distance and draw correlation graphs [12]. The importance of a document is indicated by the color, size, and distribution of the nodes within the network, i.e., their relationship to each other. In this paper, keywords that appear more than 10 times are selected to visualize the network relationship and evolutionary trend of these keywords.

2.3. Content Analysis

Content analysis is a method used to make an objective and systematic analysis of the literature’s content; its purpose is to examine the essential facts and trends in the literature. We performed a content analysis to better understand the relationships between each cluster. High-quality journals and highly cited papers were selected from each cluster for intensive reading, and the relationships between different literatures were systematically summarized. To ensure the quality of the intensive reading literature, the journals selected are mainly nature sub-journals, and a total of 32 pieces of literature are intensively read and deeply analyzed. Finally, the research results of digital enabling and plastic supply chain carbon footprint are summarized, and the theoretical model of carbon reduction of the digital enabling plastic supply chain is condensed.

3. Bibliometric Analysis

3.1. Research Trend of Carbon Emission Reduction in Plastic Supply Chain

The superimposed visualization diagram is drawn by superimposing according to the time sequence of key words, which can reflect and explain the evolution process and trends of research hotspots in a certain field [12]. Figure 2 is a superimposed visualization diagram of the research on the carbon footprint of the digital empowerment plastic supply chain. This diagram is constructed by superimposing keywords that appear more than 10 times over time, with different colors representing key research themes in different years. As can be seen from Figure 3, the research on the carbon footprint of the digital empowered plastic supply chain is evolving from phenomenon to mechanism, from crossing to blending. Scholars first pay attention to the carbon emissions and digitalization of the plastic supply chain [13]. The key words during this period include life cycle assessment, energy, and digital media, and scholars focus on the analysis of social phenomena such as energy problems and urban environmental pollution. On the basis of in-depth research on the phenomenon, scholars began to explore the mechanisms of carbon footprints in the plastic supply chain and the ways to reduce it. The keywords during this period mainly involved carbon footprint, packaging, digital ability, and so on. Subsequently, some scholars turned their perspectives to research methods [14]. By combining life cycle analysis with input-output analysis, researchers discussed how to reduce carbon emissions, waste, and plastic pollution from a deeper quantitative perspective. With the extensive application of digital technology in the plastic industry, research on digital topics such as the digital economy, digital trade, and cross-border e-commerce has become increasingly popular. Some scholars have begun to explore the combination of digital technology and plastic supply chains for research. The three scattered research fields of carbon emissions, supply chain, and digitalization have gradually merged to form a new research field, and digital technology has enabled the plastic supply chain to reduce carbon emissions and formed a new research topic. Concepts such as reverse logistics, digitalization, digital health, the COVID-19 pandemic, e-commerce, and the circular supply chain models are the key words of this period.

3.2. Analysis of Research Hotspots Based on Keyword Clustering

In order to identify the research clusters of digital empowerment in the plastic supply chain, the keywords of carbon emission reduction in the plastic supply chain are drawn by VOSviewer software for cluster analysis. The results suggest that the research on carbon emission reduction in the plastic supply chain is divided into six clusters, as shown in Figure 3, with each color representing one cluster. In addition, the size of a keyword represents its frequency of occurrence; that is, the more times it appears, the greater its size. We will select the keywords that appear most frequently to represent the cluster, as these keywords are most closely related to other keywords in the cluster.
Cluster 1: Supply chain
The cluster keywords represented by blue include supply chain, food waste, plastic, and other keywords. The larger the nodes on the graph, the more times the keyword appears. The supply chain is the largest node in this cluster, and it is collinear with other keywords. It shows that scholars are studying the carbon footprint behavior of the plastic supply chain from different angles and perspectives. By classifying these keywords, we can find that the main perspectives of carbon footprint research in the plastic supply chain are the plastic supply chain process, the concept of supply chain and the environmental perspective of the plastic supply chain. Figure 2 shows that the keywords in this cluster are mainly related to food. Studies have shown that plastic packaging can reduce food decay, and the use of transport packaging can also improve transport efficiency, thus reducing greenhouse gas emissions to some extent [15]. However, the waste of plastic packaging increases the waste and pollution of plastic. With the vigorous development of digital technology, blockchain technology, and big data technology have been applied in the plastic supply chain, effectively improving the performance of the plastic recycling supply chain. Reverse logistics, plastic recycling, and reprocessing, as end of life of the plastic supply chain cycle, have also attracted research attention.
Cluster 2: Carbon dioxide emission
Key words of the green cluster mainly include green supply chain, sustainable supply chain, carbon emissions, transportation, and sustainable supply chain. The carbon footprint of the plastic supply chain is a hot topic for studying how to reduce carbon emissions from a sustainable perspective. Firstly, from the perspective of the closed-loop process of the plastic supply chain, the influence of network design, management, logistics, and transportation process optimization of the plastic supply chain on carbon footprint and carbon emissions is analyzed. It is found that reasonable design, supply chain network optimization, and logistics process optimization in closed-loop supply chains are helpful in reducing carbon emissions [16]. Secondly, the new concepts and ideas of green supply chains and sustainable supply chains are introduced into the management of the plastic supply chains. Managers of the plastic supply chain effectively reduce the carbon emissions of the plastic supply chain by building a green and sustainable supply chain. Some achievements have analyzed the green supply chain, uncertainty, and the choice of green suppliers from the perspective of green development, demonstrating that green supply chain management can help reduce the carbon footprint of the plastic supply chain [17]. Some scholars have also studied the impact of uncertain environments and environmental sustainability on the carbon footprint and carbon emission reduction of the plastic supply chain [18].
Cluster 3: Carbon Footprint and Climate Change
The climate problem has received a lot of attention in recent years. Due to its high emissions and environmental pollution, the plastic industry has become a concern for researchers in the climate field, forming a research cluster. The keywords of this cluster, represented by yellow, include carbon footprint, climate change, greenhouse gases, global warming, energy, environmental impact, energy efficiency, life cycle assessment, and so on. Climate change is a global issue, and its impact on the global environment and economy is long-term and far-reaching. Its solution lies in the green, sustainable, coordinated, and shared development path of all countries. Exploring climate change from the perspective of the global plastic supply chain, alongside exploring new ways to empower the plastic supply chain from the perspective of globalization and sustainability of climate governance, has become an important topic for this cluster [19,20]. With the increasing impact of the COVID-19 epidemic on the global economy, the resilience and flexibility of the global supply chain have attracted the attention of scholars and practitioners around the world, and digital technology is of great value for maintaining the stability and cooperation of the global supply chain. It will be an important topic to discuss digital technology and climate change from a global perspective. Energy is one of the raw materials for plastic production, and the vigorous development and utilization of energy has brought about the emission of carbon dioxide and greenhouse gases. The plastic supply chain integrates these keywords into a system, and digital technology is applied to the recovery and recycling of plastic waste, optimizing and improving the efficiency of resource allocation, which is helpful to reduce the overall carbon emissions of the plastic supply chain. The cluster focuses on seeking ways to reduce low carbon and plastic waste from suppliers of the plastic supply chain. Existing research results show that low-carbon energy is another strategy for reducing greenhouse gas emissions in the life cycle of plastics [21]. On the supply side of the plastic supply chain, reducing emissions and controlling plastic pollution from the suppliers of the supply chain has also become a hot topic in the cluster. Studies have shown that, low-carbon energy is another strategy to reduce greenhouse gas emissions during the plastic lifecycle. Under conditions of 100% renewable energy, the greenhouse gas emissions from plastic production in the United States can be reduced by 50–75% [22]. For example, one of the most promising strategies for replacing petroleum-based plastic packaging materials with bio-based plastics is due to their lower environmental impact and improved technical performance [23].
Cluster 4: International trade
The cluster keywords include international trade, global supply chain, environmental footprint, input-output analysis, consumption-based accounting, etc. Among them, the keyword with the highest centrality is input-output analysis, which is widely collinear with other keywords. This also shows that international trade is the mainstream research method in this cluster. Scholars use the input-output method to analyze the impact of international trade of plastic waste and related laws and regulations on the environmental footprint. For example, the effects of the ban on the import of plastic waste in China on the global trade market and its impact on environmental sustainability were studied by using the input-output analysis method [20]. Therefore, the carbon footprint caused by the circulation of the international plastic supply chain is also a hot topic of concern to scholars.
Cluster 5: Sustainability and circular economy
A circular economy is a sustainable economic model that transforms a linear economy into an ecological circular economy through efficient and circular utilization of resources [11]. Its core is reduction, reuse, and recycling, characterized by low consumption, low emissions, and high efficiency, aiming at changing the traditional production and consumption patterns. The most important keywords of the blue cluster are sustainable and circular economy. The main keywords include sustainability, sustainable development, circular economy, recycling, plastic waste, plastic recycling, waste management, carbon neutrality, and blockchain. In this cluster, sustainability is the most critical core keyword, which is collinear with other keywords. It shows that scholars focus on the measures and theoretical models to reduce carbon emissions and the carbon footprint of the plastic supply chain by means of digital technology from the perspective of developing a circular economy. Previous studies have proven that the management of plastic waste can achieve sustainable development through recycling [11]. The application of digital technologies such as blockchain in the recycling process of plastic waste is helpful for reducing carbon emissions [19]. It can be seen that a circular economy is an important means to achieve carbon neutrality, which is an important subject worthy of further study.
Cluster 6: Digital empowerment
Digital empowerment refers to the use of digital technology to enhance the capabilities of individuals, organizations, and society. The cluster of digital empowerment is represented in red. The main keywords are digital technology, digital transformation, digital divide, digital health, COVID-19, digital media, big data, and artificial intelligence. In recent years, against the background of the accelerating digital transformation of the COVID-19 epidemic, the digital transformation of the plastic supply chain has attracted scholars’ attention, with blockchain, big data, and technology being of particular concern among digital technologies [24,25,26]. Current research shows that digital technologies such as the Internet of Things, blockchain, artificial intelligence, additive manufacturing, big data analysis, cloud computing, and others have been widely used in the supply chain, penetrating the carbon footprint of the entire life cycle of products from raw materials to final recycling.

4. The Mechanism of Digitally Empowered Plastic Supply Chain Carbon Emission Reduction

Blockchain, IoT, big data, artificial intelligence, 3D printing, and other digital technologies are increasingly used in the plastics supply chain, especially in the fields of recycling logistics, manufacturing, and marketing [27,28]. The use of digital technologies saves resources, reduces energy consumption, and thus reduces carbon emissions. Although there are many practical cases of digitally enabled supply chains in the plastics industry, the mechanism of digitally enabled supply chains is still being explored at the theoretical level. Based on the previous bibliometric analysis, we further conducted a content analysis and proposed the conceptual framework for carbon emission reduction in the digitally empowered plastic supply chain.

4.1. Carbon Reduction in Plastic Supply Chain

In the plastics supply chain, carbon emissions are involved in all aspects of product design, production, operation, distribution, and recycling [11]. The results retrieved were summarized and organized as shown in Table 1 to obtain the main measures for reducing environmental pollution and carbon emissions along the plastics supply chain.
As can be seen from Table 1, the main paths to reduce emissions in the plastics supply chain are (1) to reduce carbon emissions and pollution from the supply chain and sources of the plastics supply chain by developing new materials that enable plastics to degrade and achieve emissions reductions. Some studies have shown that bio-based plastics produce fewer greenhouse gases and save more energy compared to traditional petroleum-based plastics [18]. (2) Building a plastic recycling supply chain to reduce emissions. Many results emphasize that improving recycling levels and recycling plastic waste through reverse logistics and supply chain pathways are effective ways to reduce carbon emissions and pollution [29,34]. (3) Socially responsible actions. The core companies of the plastics supply chain need to implement socially responsible actions to meet the needs of the market environment and national policies and then turn socially responsible behavior into one of the evaluation criteria for suppliers and select relevant stakeholders who can maintain consistency and coordination in actions to cooperate. (4) Enhance the waste value chain, conducting supply chain innovation to turn waste into valuable assets [4]. (5) Improve the operational efficiency of the supply chain to reduce plastic production as a way to achieve emission reductions. (6) Redesigning the supply chain network and optimizing the logistics network and distribution system of the plastic supply chain to achieve emission reduction by reducing transportation distance and transportation volume. These reduction paths and measures need to improve the overall operational performance of the plastics supply chain to achieve the minimum energy consumption and input to meet the needs of the market and consumers. A realistic and feasible option to achieve this is digital transformation, which empowers the plastics supply chain through digital technologies to achieve the goal of sustainable and lean operations, as evidenced by the study of Meys et al. [11]. Their findings suggest that implementing a circular supply chain technology system from oil extraction to plastics production, alongside the energy decarbonization of the plastics supply chain, is one of the key strategic initiatives to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

4.2. Mechanistic Model of Digitally Enabled Plastic Supply Chain Carbon Emission Reduction

Currently, the main digital technologies include blockchain technology, big data technology, cloud computing, IoT, artificial intelligence, and so on. These technologies enable the supply chain to realize digital research and development, design, production, marketing, etc., so that the members of the plastic supply chain can establish a deeper connection with the surrounding environment in terms of products and services, innovate the value system of the supply chain, and achieve the goal of sustainable operation. Therefore, the main purpose of digitally empowered plastic supply chain carbon emission reduction is to apply digital technology to each functional link of the plastic supply chain so that the procurement and supplier management, manufacturing, logistics, demand, and consumption management systems of the plastic supply chain can realize digital transformation, which can achieve cost reduction and efficiency, create low-carbon value, and achieve the goal of reducing emissions and increasing value. We systematically sort out and summarize the application paths of digital technology in the plastic supply chain and deeply discuss how digitalization can empower all links of the plastic supply chain through specific paths. At the same time, we also analyze the specific effects of this empowerment process in different links in detail and based on this analysis and research, we construct the core model of this paper. The model clearly shows the whole process and its influence on the digitally empowered plastic supply chain, and the specific content is shown in Figure 4.
(1) Digital product design. It is an important way to reduce the carbon footprint of the plastic supply chain by developing new materials and reducing carbon emissions and pollution from the supply chain and source of the plastic supply chain. For plastic products, it involves the carbon footprint related to their life cycle, from the design stage to product recycling [14]. Enterprises can automatically collect, store, analyze, produce, monitor, and manage data through intelligent production systems, which can reduce energy consumption in the process of production and maintenance and provide effective solutions for the design, production, and service of green products, reduce harmful pollutants, and minimize the natural consumption of the whole product life cycle [35]. In addition, the whole life cycle of the green Internet of Things system should focus on green design, green production, green utilization, and final green disposal recycling, thus minimizing the impact on the environment to a very small level.
(2) Digital procurement. The digital procurement of the whole process can help shorten the procurement cycle, improve the overall operational efficiency of the supply chain, and significantly reduce the supply-demand interface as well as transaction costs. Suppliers at the upper end of the plastic supply chain (e.g., energy companies), through digital empowerment, realize data, information, and resource sharing among supply chain members, establish a digital platform for resource management centered on digital technology, realize integrated management of multiple resources, and optimize resource allocation [36]. In addition, the digital procurement system shares supplier prices, production plans, and other information with the core companies in the plastics supply chain, enabling both parties to forecast supply capacity and demand and use the forecasting models in the digital procurement system to achieve optimization and adjustment of sourcing strategies, making procurement flexible, agile, and lean. The optimization, cost reduction, and efficiency of the procurement process will effectively reduce the cost of the entire plastics supply chain, increase value, reduce energy consumption, ultimately achieving carbon emission reduction.
(3) Smart manufacturing. Smart manufacturing is the most important supporting technology for the plastic supply chain to achieve sustainable development and reduce carbon emissions [21]. Digital technologies such as artificial intelligence and digital twins empower manufacturing, resulting in intelligent manufacturing systems such as CIMS (computer-integrated manufacturing), MBSE (model-based system engineering), and PSE (powered equipment). By collecting, monitoring, transmitting, analyzing, and utilizing the data flow in the plastic supply chain in real time, smart manufacturing systems guide the flow of energy elements to the most efficient link, thus achieving efficient allocation of resources, promoting the upgrading and optimization of energy flow, saving energy [11], and achieving the goal of carbon emission reduction. Additive manufacturing technology is one of the more widely used digital technologies in the manufacturing industry, and this technology is applied to the plastic supply chain system to print functional parts without tools, achieve minimal waste [37], reduce the amount of plastic materials used, and serve to reduce emissions and the amount of plastic waste. Smart manufacturing enables fast, repetitive, and accurate execution of operations [38], efficient use of resources, reduced energy consumption, and reduced environmental pollution [11].
(4) Digital marketing. Digital marketing is a marketing method in which companies in the plastics supply chain rely on the Internet and computer communication technologies, use digital tools, and use digital management platforms to explore the potential value of data, develop marketing strategies scientifically, and reach users quickly and accurately. Digital technology empowers all stages of traditional marketing, using data feedback and monitoring to regulate marketing activities, achieve faster and more accurate user reach, optimize resource allocation, and upgrade the marketing system of the plastic supply chain. Digital technology enables lower costs, higher efficiency, and lower energy consumption for demand management in the plastics supply chain, facilitating carbon emission reduction. For example, blockchain technology combined with IoT technology can realize real-time sharing of information and product information among plastic supply chain members [39], and accurate marketing ensures the optimal allocation of resources.
(5) Digital logistics. Digital technology empowers logistics from two aspects to reduce carbon emissions. On the one hand, the traceability of blockchain technology is used to achieve logistics tracking in the plastic supply chain, provide real-time information to all participants, shorten transportation time and distance, and improve information fluency, thus achieving cost reduction and efficiency while also reducing carbon emissions. On the other hand, the traceability of blockchain can be used to track the whole process of product transportation to ensure product safety [40] and reduce waste, especially in food transportation, which saves resources and reduces emissions. In addition, digital technology empowers the storage chain to form a smart storage, which will play a role in saving energy and land resources, as well as play a cost reduction and efficiency function, which in turn reduces carbon emissions. In addition, the combination of digital technology and new energy technology forms a new type of digital logistics, which can realize low-carbon logistics in two ways: carbon sequestration and carbon reduction.
(6) Digital recycling supply chain. At the consumption end of the plastic supply chain, most of the packaging waste and domestic plastic waste generated by consumption, in the absence of an effective recycling system, flow into nature, causing serious plastic pollution and energy waste. Digital technology empowers the reverse logistics and supply chain system of the plastic supply chain to form a digital recycling supply chain, which will be able to effectively improve the recycling efficiency of plastic products and resource waste plastic waste for the production of oil and as raw materials in the production system of the plastic supply chain, which will effectively reduce resource and energy consumption and achieve carbon emission reduction. Gong et al. (2022) [39,40] point out that the application of blockchain greatly improves the transparency of the recycling value chain and makes it easier to be monitored by society and consumers. The use of digital technologies such as artificial intelligence, IoT, and big data in plastic recycling systems has improved the efficiency of sorting and classification accuracy of recycled resources. The study by Zhang et al. (2018) [41] also further demonstrated the carbon emission reduction and resource valorization of the digital recycling supply chains.

5. Future Research Directions

Digital empowerment and carbon neutrality are two emerging research directions, and the intersection and integration of the two are still in their initial stage. Based on the time evolution trend of research results and the development trend of digital technology, the following issues will receive more attention in the research of digitally enabled plastic supply chain carbon emission reduction.
(1)
Carbon emission reduction in the consumer side of the plastics supply chain
Based on Cluster 1 and Cluster 2, carbon emission reduction and the supply chain are two pivotal directions in the research of the plastic supply chain. Notably, plastic carbon emissions on the consumption side have emerged as one of the key concerns within the industry. From this, it can be deduced that scholars will direct their research efforts toward this interdisciplinary domain. Carbon emission reduction at the consumption end is very important for decreasing carbon emissions; low-carbon consumption and green consumption have been prioritized by the government and NGOs. Some scholars have explored low-carbon consumption, such as Khanna et al. [42], who showed that both monetary and non-monetary interventions can reduce household consumption. The use of appropriate incentives can encourage consumers to engage in low-carbon consumption, reduce waste, and lower carbon emissions. However, the mechanism by which digital technology can empower plastic consumption and motivate consumers to develop green consumption habits has not been studied in depth. The study of low carbon consumption involves psychology, economics, management, behavior, big data, and other multidisciplinary theories, and the interdisciplinary and convergent perspectives will be more effective in studying the reduction of emissions in the consumption side of the digitally empowered plastic supply chain. In fact, both enterprises and relevant countries have attached great importance to carbon reduction on the demand side. For instance, the Chinese government has promulgated a series of documents addressing carbon reduction in the plastic demand side. Meanwhile, Chinese plastic enterprises, such as Kingfa Science and Technology Co., Ltd. are actively promoting digital transformation to cut down carbon emissions.
(2)
The development of digital industrialization of carbon emission reduction
Based on Cluster 2 and Cluster 6, it is foreseeable that the cross-research on digital empowerment and plastic carbon reduction will capture the attention of experts. The further development of digital technology industrialization will lead to the combination of digital technology and traditional industries. Digitization can empower the entire process of the plastics supply chain, and each link can be industrialized. For example, industrialization at the production stage can begin with a digital platform to obtain data related to consumer needs and preferences and use digital technology to design and produce accordingly to create more value for customers. Whether from the production side or the consumer side of industrialization, it can have a boosting effect on the carbon reduction of the plastics supply chain, and the study of digital industrialization development is an important topic worthy of attention. In fact, plastic enterprises around the globe are actively driving the digital industrialization of carbon reduction initiatives. Ranging from international giants such as BASF and DuPont to domestic players such as China’s Hubei Sany Company and Wanhua Chemical, they are all harnessing digital technology and implementing shared pallet systems as means to achieve carbon neutrality goals.
(3)
Digital finance for the carbon footprint
Based on Cluster 3 and Cluster 6, digital empowerment and cross-research on carbon footprint are set to emerge as a new hot topic. The development of digital finance can help reduce carbon emissions [35]. Digitization plays an important role in the field of supply chain finance, especially the use of blockchain and other technologies in the financial field, which solves the problem of financing difficulties for upstream and downstream enterprises in the supply chain [39,40]. In addition, the application of digital technology in finance helps to carve out the internal and external risks of suppliers in a comprehensive way and reduce supply chain risks. The research of digital financial products around the carbon assets of the plastic supply chain to create new value will further promote the carbon emission reduction of the plastic supply chain. In reality, China’s governments at all levels are actively promoting projects related to carbon digital finance. Given that the plastic industry is a high-emission sector, an increasing number of cases are emerging where plastic-related entities are engaging in carbon finance projects through digital platforms.
(4)
Digital Value Creation of Carbon Neutralization
Drawing on Cluster 5 and Cluster 6, carbon neutrality and digital transformation represent a novel domain meriting exploration. During the digital transformation process, plastic supply chain enterprises have amassed a substantial quantity of digital assets associated with carbon reduction. The question of how to leverage these digital assets for valuation and the expansion of new business areas poses a fresh challenge for management. After digital technology empowers the plastic supply chain, it forms a digitally interconnected ecological network through the expansion of network links, and its value creation, value distribution, and value flow directly affect the stability and sustainable development of the network. Around the theme of carbon neutrality, value creation, and rational allocation of carbon resources in the plastic supply chain will also become a new issue in the field of plastic supply chains.
(5)
Carbon Neutralization Innovation
Drawing from Cluster 3 and Cluster 5, it is evident that the topics of carbon emission reduction and carbon neutrality within the plastic industry have captured extensive attention from the academic community. The exploration of how to innovate the design of carbon neutrality schemes from the perspective of the supply chain has increasingly drawn the interest of relevant countries and enterprises. Supply chain innovation has always been a hotspot in supply chain research. After the vigorous development of digital technology, the environment of supply chain innovation has changed significantly, and digital technology will change the operation and management of the supply chain and R&D process, so how to reduce carbon emissions in the plastic supply chain and promote carbon neutrality through design innovation will become a sub-direction of digital empowerment in carbon-neutral research.
(6)
Mechanism of metaverse-enabled plastic supply chain
Based on Cluster 1 and Cluster 6, the application research of digital technology within the plastic supply chain field has emerged as a hot topic drawing significant industry attention. Notably, the metaverse, as the cutting-edge digital technology in the industry, is anticipated to be applied in the area of carbon reduction within the plastic supply chains in the near future. The essence of the metaverse is the digitization process of the real world. The industrial metaverse has become a hot topic in the field of digitalization research; meanwhile, in the field of practice, industrial metaverse-related companies are emerging, and their industries are developing rapidly. Metaverse technology could be applied to the plastic supply chain in the near future, and it will be an important topic for theoretical research to explore the mechanism of metaverse technology to empower the plastic supply chain and promote carbon emission reduction in the plastic supply chain.

6. Conclusions

In this paper, we have used the knowledge mapping method to analyze the digitally enabled plastic supply chain carbon emission reduction research, the keyword co-occurrence phenomenon, sort out the hot spots and trends of related research, and organize the mechanism of the role of digitally enabled plastic supply chain carbon emission reduction. The research results show that the research hotspots related to the carbon footprint of the plastic supply chain can be divided into six clusters, which have gone through an evolutionary process from supply-side emission reduction to functional optimization of supply chain emission reduction, and then to sustainable supply chain and circular supply chain. Digital empowerment reduces the carbon footprint of the plastic supply chain through six pathways, namely, reducing energy consumption, improving resource utilization, optimizing resource allocation, reducing carbon emissions, and reducing plastic waste pollution by optimizing the procurement, manufacturing, marketing, logistics, and consumption of the plastic supply chain. This paper summarizes the research results of the two fields, condenses the theoretical model of digitally enabled plastic supply chain carbon reduction, and looks forward to the research in this field. Future research can be carried out from six aspects: digital empowerment of carbon emission reduction at the consumer end of the plastic supply chain, digital industrial development of carbon emission reduction in the plastic supply chain, digital finance of carbon footprints in plastic supply chain, digital value creation of carbon neutrality in plastic supply chain, research on carbon neutrality innovation and research on the mechanism of metaverse empowerment of the plastic supply chain.
This paper presents three significant potential limitations. First, the use of precise search has led to a relatively small number of collected papers, influenced by industry attributes. This situation may impede a comprehensive understanding of research frontier hotspots in the summary, and, to some extent, impact the construction of the theoretical model. However, all the retrieved papers are from the Web of Science (WOS), a highly authoritative database, which is conducive to enhancing the model’s quality. Second, due to the limited number of literature and case studies, the mechanism model of digital technology enabling carbon reduction in plastic supply chains, as summarized in this paper, is somewhat incomplete. The process by which digital technology influences carbon reduction through supply chains has not been clearly delineated. Nevertheless, the simplification of the model increases its versatility, offering a reference for the digital empowerment of carbon reduction in other manufacturing industries. Third, the industry investigated in this paper is the plastic industry, whose total carbon emissions exceed those of high-emission industries such as steel and cement, making it a major source of global carbon emissions. The supply chain structure of the plastic industry has its particularities, so the relevant conclusions of this article have limitations in application.
In light of the limitations of this study, research in this field can be expanded in three aspects. First, regarding research methods, case studies, model research, artificial intelligence methods, or integrated approaches can be employed to deeply explore the underlying mechanisms of digital technology in enabling carbon emission reduction. Second, by comparing the carbon reduction of plastic supply chains with those of steel, cement, electricity, and other industries, the key elements of digital technology-enabled carbon reduction can be identified, thereby enhancing the model’s universality and explanatory power. Third, through methods such as big data and machine learning, multi-dimensional data collection on digital technology enabling carbon reduction in plastic supply chains can be increased, and a multi-dimensional data theoretical model can be constructed to improve the model’s adaptability.

Author Contributions

Conceptualization, B.W.; Methodology, C.Z. and M.A.; Validation, Y.G.; Formal analysis, C.Z. and Y.G.; Investigation, M.S., Y.G. and M.A.; Resources, B.W.; Data curation, C.Z.; Writing—original draft, C.Z., M.S. and M.A.; Writing—review & editing, B.W. All authors have read and agreed to the published version of the manuscript.

Funding

1. The Humanities and Social Science Fund of Ministry of Education of China [24YJC630202]; 2. National Social Science Foundation of China [24YJAZH020].

Institutional Review Board Statement

Not applicable.

Informed Consent Statement

Not applicable.

Data Availability Statement

Data are contained within the article.

Conflicts of Interest

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

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Figure 1. Search and filtering methods.
Figure 1. Search and filtering methods.
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Figure 2. Keyword overlay diagram.
Figure 2. Keyword overlay diagram.
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Figure 3. Keyword cluster diagram of carbon emission reduction in the plastic supply chain.
Figure 3. Keyword cluster diagram of carbon emission reduction in the plastic supply chain.
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Figure 4. Mechanistic model of digitally empowered supply chain carbon reduction.
Figure 4. Mechanistic model of digitally empowered supply chain carbon reduction.
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Table 1. Plastic supply chain carbon reduction measures.
Table 1. Plastic supply chain carbon reduction measures.
AuthorsEmission Reduction Measures
Zheng and Suh (2019) [22]Integrate energy, materials, recycling and demand management strategies
Law et al. (2010) [2]Design principles must include a viable recycling and disposal program based on existing systems
Borrelle et al. (2020) [29]Reduce plastic production, improve waste management, and increase recycling
Lau et al. (2020) [30]Reduce plastic consumption, increase reuse rates, and expand safe waste disposal systems
Beitzen-Heineke et al. (2017) [15]Plastic waste to resource
Ohnishi et al. (2018) [31]Improve recycling waste utilization, incinerate for electricity
Hahladakis and Iacovidou (2018) [32]Increase the value of recycling, increase investment in recycling technology
Scavarda et al. (2019) [33]Improve corporate social responsibility and increase the proportion of recycling
Borrelle et al. (2020) [29]Chemical and mechanical recycling, biomass utilization, and carbon capture and utilization
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Zhao, C.; Wang, B.; Saidula, M.; Gong, Y.; Alharithi, M. Digitally-Enabled Carbon Reduction in Plastics Supply Chain Based on Literature Review Method. Sustainability 2025, 17, 2472. https://doi.org/10.3390/su17062472

AMA Style

Zhao C, Wang B, Saidula M, Gong Y, Alharithi M. Digitally-Enabled Carbon Reduction in Plastics Supply Chain Based on Literature Review Method. Sustainability. 2025; 17(6):2472. https://doi.org/10.3390/su17062472

Chicago/Turabian Style

Zhao, Changping, Bill Wang, Maliyamu Saidula, Yu Gong, and Mohammed Alharithi. 2025. "Digitally-Enabled Carbon Reduction in Plastics Supply Chain Based on Literature Review Method" Sustainability 17, no. 6: 2472. https://doi.org/10.3390/su17062472

APA Style

Zhao, C., Wang, B., Saidula, M., Gong, Y., & Alharithi, M. (2025). Digitally-Enabled Carbon Reduction in Plastics Supply Chain Based on Literature Review Method. Sustainability, 17(6), 2472. https://doi.org/10.3390/su17062472

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