Fair Share of Supply Chain Responsibility for Low Carbon Manufacturing

2016 ◽  
pp. 235-266
Author(s):  
Yu Mei Wong

Large amounts of carbon emissions and pollution are generated during the manufacturing process for consumer goods. Low carbon manufacturing has been increasingly enquired or requested by stakeholders. However, international trade blurs the responsibility for carbon emissions reduction and raises the questions of responsibility allocation among producers and consumers. Scholars have been examining the nexus of producer versus consumer responsibility among supply chains. Recently, there have been discussions on the share of producer and consumer responsibility. Both producer and consumer responsibility approaches have intrinsic shortcomings and are ineffective in curbing the rise of carbon emissions in supply chains. Shared responsibility based on the equity principle attempts to address these issues. This chapter relates a case study of carbon impact on China's export and economy with scenarios which show that the benefits of carbon reduction by producers can trickle down along the supply chain and motivate the sharing responsibility under certain circumstances. The share of producer and consumer responsibility for low carbon manufacturing can be enabled when embodied carbon emissions in goods and services are priced and such accurate information is available. A mechanism engaging the global participation is recommended. The author calls for further research on the system pricing embodied carbon emission, the universal standard to calculate the embodied carbon emissions and to disclose the information, and the way to secure global cooperation and participation.

Author(s):  
Yu Mei Wong

Large amounts of carbon emissions and pollution are generated during the manufacturing process for consumer goods. Low carbon manufacturing has been increasingly enquired or requested by stakeholders. However, international trade blurs the responsibility for carbon emissions reduction and raises the questions of responsibility allocation among producers and consumers. Scholars have been examining the nexus of producer versus consumer responsibility among supply chains. Recently, there have been discussions on the share of producer and consumer responsibility. Both producer and consumer responsibility approaches have intrinsic shortcomings and are ineffective in curbing the rise of carbon emissions in supply chains. Shared responsibility based on the equity principle attempts to address these issues. This chapter relates a case study of carbon impact on China’s export and economy with scenarios which show that the benefits of carbon reduction by producers can trickle down along the supply chain and motivate the sharing responsibility under certain circumstances. The share of producer and consumer responsibility for low carbon manufacturing can be enabled when embodied carbon emissions in goods and services are priced and such accurate information is available. A mechanism engaging the global participation is recommended. The author calls for further research on the system pricing embodied carbon emission, the universal standard to calculate the embodied carbon emissions and to disclose the information, and the way to secure global cooperation and participation.


2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (12) ◽  
pp. 1096-1101
Author(s):  
Zengkai Zhang ◽  
Dabo Guan ◽  
Ran Wang ◽  
Jing Meng ◽  
Heran Zheng ◽  
...  

2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (3) ◽  
pp. 749 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jing Bai ◽  
Jiansheng Qu ◽  
Tek Maraseni ◽  
Jinjia Wu ◽  
Li Xu ◽  
...  

The swift evolution of urbanization in China has led to a rapid increase in the demand for infrastructure. Infrastructure consumes significant amounts of construction materials. The production, packaging, transportation and use of these materials require energy and, therefore, are a source of carbon emissions. In order to make the construction of infrastructure satisfy people’s life demands and economic development, and at the same time conform to low carbon ideas, it is necessary to understand the spatial and temporal variations of embodied carbon emissions and its regional disparity. This study classifies and sorts the calculation parameters of infrastructure material stock and embodied carbon emissions. It estimates the trends and magnitude of 31 provinces over a period of 20 years (1997–2016) and analyzes the spatial-temporal characteristics. Our results indicate that: (1) The overall infrastructure embodied carbon emissions amount to 3204 billion tons; (2) the embodied carbon emissions from buildings are far greater than that of transportation infrastructure, however, the annual growth rate is contrary to this; (3) the spatial and temporal variations show regional inequality, with the eastern coastal area being higher than the central and western inland areas and the economically developed areas being higher than the less developed areas.


2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (9) ◽  
pp. 3532 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yinjie Zhang ◽  
Chunxiang Guo ◽  
Liangcheng Wang

The low-carbon economy has become the focus of global attention and scientific measurement standards with the concepts of low energy consumption, low pollution, and sustainable development. More and more attentions are paid to the research of low-carbon supply chains. Based on a two-level low-carbon supply chain in the context of carbon trading, a Stackelberg game model was established for government subsidies to determine a coordinated and balanced solution for supply chains in situations dominated by manufacturers. The optimal strategies for low-carbon technology innovation are analyzed within the context of governmental subsidies. This study’s conclusions are as follows: (1) When government subsidies are in place, regardless of who the government subsidies are meant for, manufacturers and retailers that do not generate carbon emissions will transfer the subsidies to the companies that generate carbon emissions by adjusting wholesale prices and retail prices to maximize their own profits. (2) When consumer prices are sensitive, the government’s optimal subsidy intensity increases as consumers’ low-carbon preferences increase. When consumer prices are not sensitive, the government should not provide any subsidies. (3) When consumers’ low-carbon preferences are weak, the retail price of products will decrease with the increase in subsidies; when consumers’ low-carbon preferences are strong, the opposite dynamic occurs.


2013 ◽  
Vol 291-294 ◽  
pp. 1407-1412 ◽  
Author(s):  
Liang Jie Xia ◽  
Dao Zhi Zhao ◽  
Bai Yun Yuan

In low carbon economy, carbon emissions permit has become a kind of resource; in the market economy system, new economic relations between enterprises have appeared, these characteristics make enterprise operation cost structure and profiting pattern changed. The paper reviews the previous literature on carbon footprint, production optimization theory individual enterprise and supply chain operation management with carbon emissions constraints. Then the paper put forward four worth further research directions: Carbon emission cost distribution and scientific measurement in supply chain; supply chain operation based on consumer behavior in Low Carbon Economy Era; optimizing the allocation of carbon emissions permit in supply chain; Dynamic Multi-period operation optimization of carbon efficient supply chain.


2017 ◽  
Vol 117 (10) ◽  
pp. 2468-2484 ◽  
Author(s):  
Xu Chen ◽  
Xiaojun Wang

Purpose In the era of climate change, industrial organizations are under increasing pressure from consumers and regulators to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. The purpose of this paper is to examine the effectiveness of product mix as a strategy to deliver the low carbon supply chain under the cap-and-trade policy. Design/methodology/approach The authors incorporate the cap-and-trade policy into the green product mix decision models by using game-theoretic approach and compare these decisions in a decentralized model and a centralized model, respectively. The research explores potential behavioral changes under the cap-and-trade in the context of a two-echelon supply chain. Findings The analysis results show that the channel structure has significant impact on both economic and environmental performances. An integrated supply chain generates more profits. In contrast, a decentralized supply chain has lower carbon emissions. The cap-and-trade policy makes a different impact on the economic and environmental performances of the supply chain. Balancing the trade-offs is critical to ensure the long-term sustainability. Originality/value The research offers many interesting observations with respect to the effect of product mix strategy on operational decisions and the trade-offs between costs and carbon emissions under the cap-and-trade policy. The insights derived from the analysis not only help firms to make important operational and strategic decisions to reduce carbon emissions while maintaining their economic competitiveness, but also make meaningful contribution to governments’ policy making for carbon emissions control.


Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document