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This study views Net-Zero as a dynamic capability for decarbonising supply chains (SCs). This study aims to investigate the relationship between three information processing-related capabilities (supply chain visibility [SCV], supply chain integration [SCI] and big data analytics [BDA]) as its antecedents and SC performance as its competitive advantage outcome.

The authors conceptualise a research model grounded in the literature based on dynamic capabilities and information processing views. The study uses a structural equation modelling technique to test the hypotheses’ relationship using the survey data from 311 industrial enterprises.

The results show that SCI and BDA positively and directly influence the Net-Zero capability (NZC). No significant direct impact is found between SCV and NZC. BDA fully mediates SCV and partially mediates SCI in their relationship with NZC. The results also confirm that NZC positively impacts SC performance (SCP).

This study contributes to operations management and SC literature by extending the knowledge about Net-Zero SCs through an empirical investigation. In particular, the study suggests BDA is essential to enhance NZC as SCV alone does not significantly contribute. The study also documents the benefit of NZC on SCP, which can encourage more volunteer actions in the industry.

The purpose of this paper is to propose a low carbon culture (LCC) adoption model for gaining the right carbon capabilities by integrating the dimensions of flexibility or control and external or internal of competing values framework (CVF) with that of level of carbon emission (LCE).

This study reviewed literature related to low carbon supply chain, CVF and carbon capabilities to synthesize currently available frameworks for assessing culture and carbon-related insights. Based on these insights, this study proposes the carbon culture adoption model and presents some research propositions.

This study has extended categorization of culture suggested in CVF from four categories to eight distinct categories by adding “LCE” as a third dimension. The new categories of carbon culture are: “Red,” “Antagonist,” “Obligatory,” “Early Adopter,” “Follower,” “Transitive,” “Pragmatist” and “Green.” This categorization of organizations would help in selecting appropriate low carbon practices (LCPs).

This study presents purely conceptual framework with some research propositions which needs to be empirically tested.

Organizations can formulate right policies for low carbon capabilities based on the LCC of their supply chain.

With increasing awareness about environment across stakeholders, organizations around the world are under pressure to reduce their carbon footprints. The extent of reduction in carbon footprints depends on the right capabilities across the supply chain which in turn depends on selection of the right combination of LCPs based on the supply chain culture.

Carbon Efficient Practices (CEPs) are gaining momentum due to the serious consequences of climate change. While past studies have focused on the effects of either drivers or barriers to green practices especially in the context of developed countries, relatively little attention has been devoted to the simultaneous effects of drivers and barriers on product redesign, particularly in the context of China. The paper aims to discuss these issues.

Using a blend of the Contextual Interaction Theory and Newton’s second law of motion, this paper proposes a conceptual model that simultaneously examines the impact of CEP drivers and barriers on product redesign and performance.

Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) analysis on a sample of 239 Chinese manufacturing firms indicated that drivers had substantially higher effects on product redesign and performance compared to the influence of other barriers.

Use of Newton’s second law of motion as a theoretical framework for understanding the adoption of CEPs in the context of China is novel. Implications of this pattern of results on academic theory building and practice are offered.

Warehouses are large emitters of greenhouse gases and their impact on climate change is under increasing focus. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the barriers that inhibit the adoption of low-carbon warehousing in Asia-Pacific and their links to carbon abatement performance.

An exploratory conceptual model was first developed from a literature review of the general barriers to sustainable supply chain practices and hence potentially in low-carbon warehousing. A large contract logistics services provider in the Asia-Pacific served as the subject of a case study. The perceived barriers to low-carbon warehousing were derived from an internal survey of respondents from the case company and regressed against carbon abatement outcomes at that organization’s operations across the region.

Results show that the case company reduced carbon emissions by 36 percent on a revenue-normalized basis between 2008 and 2014, but with relatively lower success in emerging markets vs mature markets. An Elastic Net regression analysis confirms that technology and government-related factors are the most important barriers in the case company’s efforts to “decarbonize” its local warehousing operations. However, results suggest that the customer-related barrier, which is highly correlated with the government barrier, is in part driven by the latter.

This case study is based on a single multinational company in Asia-Pacific, but nonetheless serves as an impetus for more cross-sectional studies to form an industry-wide view.

An extended stewardship framework based on the natural resource-based view has been proposed, in which logistics services providers take on a proactive boundary-spanning role to lower the external barriers to low-carbon warehousing.

This paper draws on the perspective of social networks to examine when 3PLs initiate low-carbon supply chain integration (LCSCI) in decarbonising supply chains.

A questionnaire survey was conducted on a sample of 348 Chinese 3PLs. Stepwise regression was adopted to analyse the data.

It is found that LCSCI has a positive effect on firm performance. From the social network perspective, a larger scope of outsourcing increases 3PLs' embeddedness, which increases their chance of success in initiating LCSCI, especially for 3PLs with higher decarbonisation capabilities. Interestingly, although the pressure from government regulation can also motivate LCSCI, it is less effective for 3PLs with higher decarbonisation capabilities because they can be too embedded in the network to freely adapt to regulations.

This study has investigated 3PL-initiated LCSCI only from the view of 3PLs. A dyadic approach which includes the perception of customers would be desirable.

The results highlight the critical role of 3PLs as supply chain orchestrators in decarbonising supply chains, and the effectiveness of LCSCI as a competitive strategy of 3PLs. Coercive pressures from government regulations are not constraints but resources for 3PLs in initiating LCSCI, especially in markets where the 3PLs have insufficient decarbonisation capabilities.

This study contributes to theories on 3PLs' interorganizational low-carbon initiatives, LCSCI, and the paradox of social networks in supply chains.

The purpose of this paper is to utilize the three abstract-concrete levels of ontology of strong structuration theory (strong ST) to examine how, and to what extent, was the development of carbon accounting frameworks at the policy, industry, and organizational levels enabled by external structures as conditions of action, that is, what was the nature of active agency within a field of position-practice relations that led to the development of these frameworks.

A case study was undertaken drawing upon interviews that were undertaken between 2008 and 2011 at the industry and organizational levels as well as documentary evidence relating to carbon accounting policy development at the macro, or policy level.

The parliamentary committee hearings into the development of the carbon price legislation represented fields of position-practice relationships which highlighted the interplay of the internal structures, capabilities and the roles of both power and trust of the agent(s)-in-focus. A meso-level analysis of the Victorian water industry highlighted how it was able to mediate the exercise of power by the macro level through the early adoption of carbon accounting frameworks. At the ontic or micro level of the individual water business, the development of a greenhouse strategy was also the outcome of position-practice relationships which highlighted the interplay of the internal structures and dispositions of the agent(s)-in-focus. The position-practice relationships at both the industry and organizational level were characterized by both soft power and trust.

Future research could investigate how the withdrawal of the carbon pricing mechanism in Australia has affected the development of carbon accounting practices whilst overseas research could examine the extent to which carbon accounting frameworks were the outcome of position-practice relationships.

Given the global significance of carbon accounting, this paper provides an overview as to how the early adoption of voluntary carbon accounting practices resulted in a reduction in carbon emissions within the water industry and therefore limited its liability for the carbon price.

This paper illustrates how the strong ST ontological concept of position-practices can be utilized at the macro, meso, and ontic levels and how these relationships mediated the impact of the carbon price upon both the water industry and the individual water business.

Due to stringent regulations on carbon emissions, green manufacturing has become a critical issue in manufacturers’ strategic planning. Manufacturers are greening production through carbon abatement activities. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the factors that influence the effects of carbon abatement on environmental productivity growth.

Using data envelopment analysis with directional distance function, this study examines productivity growth associated with carbon abatement under regulated and unregulated production technologies. A pollution abatement index (PAI) is constructed for determining the effects of carbon abatement on environmental productivity growth. Panel data of 18 European countries in paper and pulp and coke sectors are collected for the analysis.

The empirical findings reveal that carbon abatement may positively or negatively affect environmental productivity growth which is dependent on the nature of technology in a sector, the innovation capabilities of a country and environmental regulations.

Conventional approaches in measuring productivity changes do not normally take undesired outputs (e.g. carbon emissions) into consideration. This study contributes to literature by constructing a PAI that considers productivity changes under a joint production technology (where both desired and undesired outputs are considered). The findings enhance current understandings on the effectiveness of carbon abatement activities and help managers establish corporate environmental strategies to adopt green manufacturing.

The purpose of this paper is to provide an analytical model for low carbon supplier development. This study is focused on the level of investment and collaboration decisions pertaining to emission reduction.

The authors’ model includes a fuzzy c-means (FCM) clustering algorithm and a fuzzy formal concept analysis. First, a set of suppliers were classified according to their carbon performances through the FCM clustering algorithm. Then, the fuzzy formal concepts were derived from a set of fuzzy formal contexts through an intersection-based method. These fuzzy formal concepts provide the relative level of investments and collaboration decisions for each identified supplier cluster. A case from the Indian renewable energy sector was used for illustration of the proposed analytical model.

The proposed model and case illustration may help manufacturing firms to collaborate with their suppliers for improving their carbon performances.

The study contributes to the low carbon supply chain management literature by identifying the decision criteria of investments toward low carbon supplier development. It also provides an analytical model of collaboration for low carbon supplier development. Though the purpose of the study is to illustrate the proposed analytical model, it would have been better if the model was empirically validated.

Though the earlier studies on green supplier development program evaluation have considered a set of criteria to decide whether or not to invest on suppliers, these are silent on the relative level of investment required for a given set of suppliers. This study aims to fulfill this gap by providing an analytical model that will help a manufacturing firm to invest and collaborate with its suppliers for improving their carbon performance.

The purpose of this paper is to carry out a comprehensive experimental investigation into the role of screen and conductive carbon material formulation on line conductivity and printing capability in the screen printing process, to provide design knowledge and further understanding of the screen printing for printed carbon.

A full factorial experiment was carried out where six carbon materials were printed through ten screens to a polyester substrate under a set of standard conditions.

Material characterization showed that viscosity and the corresponding viscous and elastic material modulli increased with solids content and that the elastic properties at low shear are significant. The solids carbon content materials were unable to produce the minimum printable line features possible with the low carbon materials. Increasing the solids contents reduced the final cured line resistance, reduced the printed line width, increased the film thickness, increased the cross sectional area and reduced the material resistivity. Material resistivities were around 700 to 950 μΩcm were obtained in the printed lines.

Lower material resistivities were obtained with higher solids materials and it is postulated that the increased visco‐elastic nature of the solids content materials, play a role in determining the microscopic structure of the cured film through alignment of the carbon graphite platelets.

A dataset which allows material, screen and print characteristics has been created allowing process optimization and formulation development to be accelerated.

The work provides insight into the role of material properties and process settings on the electrical and physical characteristics of printed carbon.