OREANDA-NEWS. October 27, 2015. “Globalization over the last two decades has led to businesses grappling with more complex supply chains. Currently, the products flowing across the supply chain have assumed higher speed, volume and variety than a decade ago,” writes Badrinath Setlur. “With this significant and massive change, supply chains have come to wield a wider impact on the ecological system as a whole.” Excerpts:

“Green supply chains involve reducing carbon and ecological footprints in a structured and consistent manner. The Green Value Chain for the manufacturing industry prioritizes maximizing good outputs (products and savings) while minimizing bad inputs and outputs (air, water, steam, nitrogen, electricity, fuels, and wastes, packing materials, emissions—solid, liquid, and fuel) to possible extent.

There is a delicate balance between ecologically and economically sustainable supply chains— for example, focusing on reducing consumption (energy, fuels and resources) while optimizing emissions and wastes, considering new operational and distribution demands. A mature supply chain is a prerequisite for assessing the “green” dimension to develop an effective game-plan.

The adoption of emerging digital technologies such as social media, big data analytics, mobility, cloud computing, and sensors is helping transform businesses. The future of supply chains is digitally enabled for sure, and technology-driven supply chains hold tremendous potential of providing competitive advantage over traditional ones.

The combination of digitization and environmentally conscious businesses provides competitive and resilient green supply chains.  

The essential criteria that will differentiate the maturity of green supply chains of the future will be contingent on integration of digital technologies in reducing the carbon and ecological footprints.

The increasing complexity of supply chains, with the dual agenda of maximizing good outputs while minimizing bad inputs and outputs, are shepherding businesses to invest in green supply chains. A starting point is the maturity assessment of supply chains and developing an implementation roadmap leveraging new technologies.”