The Green Supply Chain - Carbon-to-Serve

What does going green mean to the supply chain?

"Going Green" is about more than just reducing packaging or your carbon footprint. It involves making environmentally-wise choices in supply chain design and execution, including managing the reverse supply chain to efficiently manage and remove waste. The key objective of a business is to grow shareholder value, so it would be a brave organisation that decided to do everything it could to be green irrespective of costs. However, as fuel costs rise, economic and environmental concerns will converge even more - good, old-fashioned operations management thinking is directly applicable to carbon management. As the cost base changes and oil prices rise, projects which would have been unviable in commercial terms in the past will become justifiable.

Although recent surveys have revealed that a majority of leading companies identify the growing importance of green issues in supply chain management, most companies have yet to adopt a sustainable supply chain strategy. A key problem has been the lack of specific knowledge and of standard procedures to measure emissions from supply chain activities. In order to overcome these issues LCP Consulting helps companies to establish supply chain emission inventories, develop sustainable supply chain strategies and to realise tangible eco-efficient supply chain measures.

Using our proprietary Carbon-To-Serve® modelling tools we help clients identify and leverage green supply chain opportunities through:

• calibrating the key supply chain drivers of carbon emissions;

• identifying the opportunities for carbon emissions reduction through:

  o transport avoidance strategies;

  o supply chain redesign strategies; and

  o technology improvement strategies.

• prioritising opportunities using our carbon/cost/benefit evaluation methodology; and

We have completed green supply chain projects for companies across a variety of sectors, including:

• developing a supply chain strategy for a UK retailer that took account of industry wide transport savings and packaging reductions;

• developing a supply chain model for an international drinks manufacturer that highlighted the transport emissions and cost savings opportunities of relocating bottling operations; and

• working in collaboration with other members of the global Green Logistics Consulting Group on an emissions mapping project for an international trade body.