Green supply chain concept is used to reduce environmental degradation and emissions of air, water, and waste by incorporating green practices into business operations. Growing impacts of global warming, climate change, waste, and air pollution problems have prompted experts all over the world to think more environment friendly and find the best possible approach for “Green” solutions. green supply chain management is one of the factors that motivates organizations to be more sustainable. This study focuses on the green supply chain management in the auto parts industry in South Indian. Data from three green initiatives: recyclable packaging, green warehouse management and milk run approach for logistics is taken and compared with non-green approaches. It is found that there is significant reduction in costs by adopting the green approaches. With environmental issues growing all the time, green supply chain deserves to be a long-term community concern in developing countries.
TopIntroduction
Global warming has garnered attention from around the world due to the fears and risks it brings with it as technology burdens the planet with expanding demands for energy production and consumption despite having finite resources (Hassan et al., 2022). However, Green Supply Chain Management (GSCM) is a viable option for resolving this issue. Researchers focused on the benefits: more environmentally friendly and sustainable supply chain practices offer competitive advantages, whereas less environmentally friendly practices pose a serious threat to the environment (Seman et al., 2019). Green logistics (GL) is a method of creating environmentally-friendly logistics and SCM (De Souza et al., 2022). Materials-related duties include acquiring, reducing, reusing, recycling, and replacing materials. Sustainable supply chain management solutions have become essential industrial success elements. Green procurement, manufacturing, materials management, distribution, marketing, and reverse logistics are all examples of green logistics (Sureeyatanapas & Yang, 2021).
Organizations all over the world have implemented green supply chain practices, yet Indian organizations continue to prioritize cost-benefit analysis. Though India has become one of the world's most significant industrial economies (Bosworth & Collins, 2008), but it still lags in the green supply chain concept, indicating that there is an opportunity for advancement from early to advanced. Green Manufacturing (GM) has permeated all industrial sectors, including automobiles, real estate, cement, steel, electronics, and construction, chemicals, water equipment and processes, and so on, as well as big energy users such as steel, cement, and paper goods. The publications “National Production Policy 8” prepared by the “Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion” of DIPP demonstrate the earnest attention of the Indian political leadership in this area. The adoption of more sustainable and financially viable corporate growth methods is leading the way in Indian industry. Real estate developer DLF has been concentrating on energy efficiency (Vijaya, 2011), “Hindustan Unilever” is aiming to reduce CO2 emissions by 22%, Kirloskar Brothers markets a range of ultra-energy-efficient pumps in Pune, and “Jaipur UltraTech Cement” has taken up the mission to burn 100 tonnes of household waste each day in its “waste plant”, among other businesses that have chosen sustainable technology in their manufacturing (Dhunna, 2020). In India, there are already 48 GreenCo accredited businesses, and more than 140 other businesses are actively pursuing this certification (Ali et al., 2018).
Although there has been significant research on green supply chain management in recent years, there are still gaps in the literature. One of the main shortcomings of green supply chain research is the lack of standardization of definitions, metrics, and methods. This makes it difficult to compare and generalize the results of studies and limits the possibilities to compare and evaluate performance. Most research on green supply chain management has been conducted in developed countries, while research on developing countries is limited. As developing countries face unique challenges and opportunities in implementing green supply chain practices, more research is needed to understand their context and explore effective strategies. Although the circular economy is gaining attention as a strategy to promote sustainability, there is little research on the role of environmentally sustainable supply chain management in achieving a circular economy. Further research is needed to understand the potential of green supply chains in promoting the circular economy and to identify effective strategies for implementing circular supply chains. There is also limited research on milk run with respect of Indian SCM.