Towards an Understanding of Hydrogen Supply Chains: A Structured Literature Review Regarding Sustainability Evaluation

Hydrogen technologies have received increased attention in research and development to foster the shift towards carbon-neutral energy systems. Depending on the specific production techniques, transportation concepts, and application areas, hydrogen supply chains (HSCs) can be anything from part of the energy transition problem to part of the solution: Even more than battery-driven electric mobility, hydrogen is a polyvalent technology and can be used in very different contexts with specific positive or negative sustainability impacts. Thus, a detailed sustainability evaluation is crucial for decision making in the context of hydrogen technology and its diverse application fields. This article provides a comprehensive, structured literature review in the context of HSCs along the triple bottom line dimensions of environmental, economic, and social sustainability, analyzing a total of 288 research papers. As a result, we identify research gaps mostly regarding social sustainability and the supply chain stages of hydrogen distribution and usage. We suggest further research to concentrate on these gaps, thus strengthening our understanding of comprehensive sustainability evaluations for HSCs, especially in social sustainability evaluation. In addition, we provide an additional approach for discussion by adding literature review results from neighboring fields, highlighting the joint challenges and insights regarding sustainability evaluation.

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Environmental and Social Sustainability in UK Construction Industry: a Systematic Literature Review

European Journal of Economics and Business Studies ◽

10.26417/ejes.v5i1.p100-115 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 5 (1) ◽

pp. 100

Author(s):

Fotios Misopoulos ◽

Vicky Manthou ◽

Zenon Michaelides

Keyword(s):

Literature Review ◽

Construction Industry ◽

Systematic Literature Review ◽

Environmental Sustainability ◽

Social Sustainability ◽

Developed Countries ◽

Three Dimensions ◽

Sustainable Construction ◽

Community Sustainability ◽

Bottom Line

Research on sustainability in the construction industry is common in construction journals addressing the potential adverse effects conventional practices have in the construction community. Sustainability is addressed through the environmental, social and economic impacts in literature and researchers and practitioners always drive the need for an equal attention on these three dimensions, but not so successfully at present. Sustainability covers a broad content with various suggested approaches arising from different countries all over the world. Previous studies have investigated sustainable construction issues as a global concept and in individual developed countries such as the US, Australia, and China. The aim of this research is to investigate the extent of coverage, by academia, of the sustainability concept in UK construction industry, with a focus on the environmental and social aspects of sustainability, based on the Triple Bottom Line framework. The researchers conducted a systematic literature review, searching relevant articles with predefined criteria in two major bibliographical databases, which offer great coverage of the existing academic journals in social sciences. The study utilised the PRISMA reporting approach and the search resulted in thirty-one suitable articles. The findings revealed that environmental sustainability receives much more attention than social sustainability. Added emphasis is given to green buildings and materials used. Government regulations seem to be the leading driver for adopting sustainable practices, while lack of knowledge/awareness of sustainable best practices is the leading challenge.

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Impacts of epidemic outbreaks on supply chains: mapping a research agenda amid the COVID-19 pandemic through a structured literature review

Annals of Operations Research ◽

10.1007/s10479-020-03685-7 ◽

2020 ◽

Cited By ~ 23

Author(s):

Maciel M. Queiroz ◽

Dmitry Ivanov ◽

Alexandre Dolgui ◽

Samuel Fosso Wamba

Keyword(s):

Literature Review ◽

Supply Chains ◽

Research Agenda ◽

Structured Literature Review

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Measuring social issues in sustainable supply chains

Measuring Business Excellence ◽

10.1108/mbe-11-2014-0041 ◽

2015 ◽

Vol 19 (1) ◽

pp. 33-45 ◽

Cited By ~ 48

Author(s):

Payman Ahi ◽

Cory Searcy

Keyword(s):

Content Analysis ◽

Literature Review ◽

Supply Chains ◽

Design Methodology ◽

Social Issues ◽

The Other ◽

Bottom Line ◽

Content Type ◽

Economic Issues ◽

Sustainable Supply Chains

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to identify the metrics used in the literature to measure social issues in sustainable supply chains. Design/methodology/approach – A systematic literature review was conducted to identify peer-reviewed articles containing metrics pertaining to social issues in the supply chain. A structured content analysis of each identified article was conducted to extract the metrics. This analysis provided a basis for a frequency analysis to determine how often the various metrics appeared in the literature. The metrics were also analyzed to determine whether they: simultaneously addressed the other areas of the triple bottom line, namely, environmental and/or economic issues; were quantitative or qualitative metrics; and could be classified as absolute, relative or context-based metrics. Findings – A total of 53 unique metrics were identified. The analysis of the results showed that a limited number of environmental (3 metrics) and economic (11 metrics) issues were addressed by the metrics as well. A combination of quantitative (39.6 per cent) and qualitative (60.4 per cent) measurements were used. The vast majority of the metrics (90.6 per cent) were further classified as absolute metrics. Originality/value – This paper presents one of the first in-depth analyses of metrics used to measure social issues in supply chains. This is important because social issues are often overlooked in research focused on performance measurement in sustainable supply chains.

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Optimal supply chains and power sector benefits of green hydrogen

Scientific Reports ◽

10.1038/s41598-021-92511-6 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 11 (1) ◽

Author(s):

Fabian Stöckl ◽

Wolf-Peter Schill ◽

Alexander Zerrahn

Keyword(s):

Supply Chains ◽

Energy Efficient ◽

Large Scale ◽

Renewable Energy Sources ◽

Energy Transition ◽

Small Scale ◽

Power Sector ◽

Transportation Sector ◽

Temporal Flexibility ◽

Hydrogen Supply

AbstractGreen hydrogen can help to decarbonize parts of the transportation sector, but its power sector interactions are not well understood so far. It may contribute to integrating variable renewable energy sources if production is sufficiently flexible in time. Using an open-source co-optimization model of the power sector and four options for supplying hydrogen at German filling stations, we find a trade-off between energy efficiency and temporal flexibility. For lower shares of renewables and hydrogen, more energy-efficient and less flexible small-scale on-site electrolysis is optimal. For higher shares of renewables and/or hydrogen, more flexible but less energy-efficient large-scale hydrogen supply chains gain importance, as they allow to temporally disentangle hydrogen production from demand via storage. Liquid hydrogen emerges as particularly beneficial, followed by liquid organic hydrogen carriers and gaseous hydrogen. Large-scale hydrogen supply chains can deliver substantial power sector benefits, mainly through reduced renewable curtailment. Energy modelers and system planners should consider the distinct flexibility characteristics of hydrogen supply chains in more detail when assessing the role of green hydrogen in future energy transition scenarios. We also propose two alternative cost and emission metrics which could be useful in future analyses.

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Understanding Interdependencies among Social Sustainability Evaluation Criteria in an Emerging Economy

Sustainability ◽

10.3390/su12051934 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 12 (5) ◽

pp. 1934 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Amin Vafadarnikjoo ◽

Hadi Badri Ahmadi ◽

Benjamin Thomas Hazen ◽

James J. H. Liou

Keyword(s):

Social Issues ◽

Social Sustainability ◽

Regulatory Compliance ◽

Evaluation Framework ◽

Social Dimension ◽

Sustainability Evaluation ◽

Bottom Line ◽

Interpretive Structural Modeling ◽

Fuzzy Matrix ◽

Sustainability Criteria

Organizations need to consider the triple bottom line (3BL) model of sustainability to maintain competitiveness in global markets. Of 3BL, environmental and economic sustainability pillars are more often discussed, as they are most directly related to a firm’s bottom line and regulatory compliance. Unfortunately, social sustainability receives relatively little attention even though it remains a significant threat to organizational sustainment, particularly in emerging economies. This study builds upon a social sustainability evaluation framework to investigate the interrelationships among social sustainability criteria in an effort to better understand how to improve social sustainability performance. A unique hybrid of interpretive structural modeling (ISM) and hesitant fuzzy matrix of cross impact multiplications applied to classification (HF-MICMAC) methodology is introduced and employed to determine the interrelationships (drivers and dependences) among social sustainability criteria. Then, a manufacturing company is used as the backdrop to test the efficacy of the expanded framework. The findings can aid industry decision-makers, especially in developing countries, to better understand and manage social issues, improve social dimension of sustainability, enhance the sustainability in operations and shift towards sustainable development.

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