Achieving Zero Carbon Strategy: Towards What Direction Should Supply Chain Focus On?

Dear Colleagues,

Massive industrialization causes severe greenhouse gas emissions all over the world. Emissions of carbon dioxide have increased by 49% over the last few centuries: from 280 ppm in 1750 to 417 ppm in March 2022 [1,2]. Thus, the negative effects of carbon emissions are now the biggest threat to the Earth's ecological systems. As a consequence, in 2005, the European Union Emissions Trading System (EU-ETS) began to implement a method to control greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by implementing a compulsory ‘cap-and-trade' policy among the 27 EU member countries. At the Paris convention (November-December 2015) of the United Nations, it was decided that the EU should move towards achieving zero emissions in the timeframe between 2030 and 2050 without incurring economic losses. Thus, to achieve the target of zero emissions, almost all developed and developing countries have implemented governmental regulations and penalties for GHG emissions. 

Thus, under the present global environmental regulations, firms that are generally in the supply chain framework are reframing their manufacturing, remanufacturing, production and operation strategies. Should they focus on profit-maximizing strategies, or should they generate strategies that may achieve the goal of capped or zero carbon emissions? Such strategies could be superior management, the implementation of innovative technologies, controlling the production rates, reduced waste, reuse and recycle resources, fixed sustainability targets, reviewing and renovating logistics, involvement in corporate social activities, etc. While determining and implementing these strategies, one should aim to maximize overall supply chain profitability or simply adhere to Vicker’s delegation philosophy [3], which states that non-profit maximizing motives may lead to the profit maximization of a system. None the less, developing a zero/capped emissions supply chain aiming toward commercial and ecological optimization requires extensive scientific research. 

In view of the above, this Sustainability Special Issue aims to encourage original, rigorous, and relevant research focusing on sustainable supply chain management for zero/capped carbon emissions. This Special Issue invites submissions of original research and review articles based on the supply chain and zero-carbon-emission strategies. It welcomes submissions including analytical models, empirical studies, and solution approaches. Review papers are also welcomed if they provide substantially new insights into the practice of zero-emissions strategies and supply chain operations. 

Some suggested themes may include, but are not limited to, the following: 

• Carbon emission control policies (e.g., carbon trading policies, carbon cap-and-trade policies, and carbon tax policies) for supply chains;
• Effect of consumer behavior on zero-emissions supply chain;
• Design, modeling, and optimization of a zero- or low-carbon supply chain;
• Corporate social responsibility for emissions control;
• Optimal decision making and coordination of low-carbon supply chains;
• Reverse logistics in supply chain management;
• Technological developments for carbon emission reduction;
• Use of deep learning/machine learning to estimate of the efficiency of carbon emission strategies across their lifespan;
• Intelligent approaches based on fuzzy set theory to design a low-carbon supply chain.

References:

1. Earth System Research Laboratories. https://esrl.noaa.gov/.
2. Carbon Dioxide. https://climate.nasa.gov/vital-signs/carbon-dioxide/.
3. Vickers, J. Delegation and the Theory of the Firm. Econ. J., 1985, 95, 138–147.

Dr. Nikunja Mohan Modak
Dr. Shibaji Panda
Guest Editors

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• supply chain management
• emission controlling policies
• corporate social responsibility
• closed-loop supply chain
• coordination
• game theory
• carbon footprint
• optimization