Carbon Footprint in Meat Production and Supply Chains

Policy responses to the COVID-19 outbreak must strike a balance between maintaining essential supply chains and limiting the spread of the virus. Our results indicate a strong positive relationship between livestock-processing plants and local community transmission of COVID-19, suggesting that these plants may act as transmission vectors into the surrounding population and accelerate the spread of the virus beyond what would be predicted solely by population risk characteristics. We estimate the total excess COVID-19 cases and deaths associated with proximity to livestock plants to be 236,000 to 310,000 (6 to 8% of all US cases) and 4,300 to 5,200 (3 to 4% of all US deaths), respectively, as of July 21, 2020, with the vast majority likely related to community spread outside these plants. The association is found primarily among large processing facilities and large meatpacking companies. In addition, we find evidence that plant closures attenuated county-wide cases and that plants that received permission from the US Department of Agriculture to increase their production-line speeds saw more county-wide cases. Ensuring both public health and robust essential supply chains may require an increase in meatpacking oversight and potentially a shift toward more decentralized, smaller-scale meat production.

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Going Green Inside and Out: Corporate Environmental Responsibility and Financial Performance under Regulatory Stringency

Sustainability ◽

10.3390/su12093850 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 12 (9) ◽

pp. 3850

Author(s):

Jongjin Sohn ◽

Jongseon Lee ◽

Nami Kim

Keyword(s):

Supply Chain ◽

Financial Performance ◽

Supply Chains ◽

Carbon Footprint ◽

Multiple Time ◽

Corporate Environmental Responsibility ◽

Time Horizons ◽

Internal Operations ◽

The Relationship

While researchers have long examined the relationship between corporate environmental responsibility (CER) and financial performance, the evidence remains inconclusive. Moreover, whether sustainable supply chain management plays a role in enhancing the financial performance of focal firms has yet to be fully investigated. As firms’ investment in CER often pays off in the long-term, applying multiple time horizons, short- to long-term considerations, is needed to determine the effects of CER. This study examined the role of CER in improving financial performance based on multiple time horizons. In particular, the effects of CER on financial performance were explored in terms of internal operations and supply chains. The moderating effects of regulatory stringency on the relationship between CER and a firm’s short- or long-term financial performance were also investigated. Firms’ CER was studied using carbon data from Trucost. Carbon footprint can be an appropriate proxy for CER, as it provides information on supply partners’ environmental concerns. A unique dataset of the carbon footprint of 714 North American firms in 19 industry sectors in 2003–2010 was used. The results indicated that firms benefit from CER not only in their internal operations but also in their supply chains in both the short and long-terms. The moderating effects of regulatory stringency were significant for CER only in terms of the supply chain but not for internal operations. In industries with a high level of regulatory stringency, the positive effects of CER on short-term financial performance in the supply chain become weaker, but the same effects on long-term financial performance become stronger. By investigating the effects of two distinct carbon footprint aspects on financial performance at different time horizons, this study sheds light on the importance of CER in firms’ internal operations and supply chains.

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Decision-Making Model of Network Optimization in Green Supply Chain

Advanced Materials Research ◽

10.4028/www.scientific.net/amr.962-965.2277 ◽

2014 ◽

Vol 962-965 ◽

pp. 2277-2282

Author(s):

Cui Zhen Cao ◽

Guo Huao Zhao

Keyword(s):

Supply Chain ◽

Supply Chains ◽

Carbon Footprint ◽

Network Optimization ◽

Optimization Design ◽

Service Level ◽

Green Supply Chain ◽

Low Carbon ◽

Carbon Supply ◽

Function Coefficient

Network optimization design of green supply chains not only decides the structure and value of supply chains themselves, but also has great impact on the healthy, low-carbon development of whole society’s logistics system and transportation system. Based on carbon footprint theory, this paper elaborates the influence of carbon emission on overall value of supply chain. Penalty function coefficient is introduced to covert a multi-objective optimization problem to a single objective one; three objects, namely, profitability, service level and environmental protection, are thus coordinated. A network optimization model is also developed so as to achieve a green, low carbon supply chain, and to balance cost, response time and carbon footprint. An example is offered as proof of this model’s effectiveness, serving as a supplementary solution to optimization design of green supply chain network.

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