Green Supply Chain Management in the Construction Industry: A literature review

Abstract

The Construction Industry is considered one of the biggest waste generators in the world, and to tackle this problem, the concept of environmental sustainability in the construction sector can act in different areas, as waste reduction, carbon emissions reduction, better selection of materials and others. These areas involve several stakeholders during a life cycle of a project, therefore the implementation of a Green Supply Chain Management (GSCM) can help the sustainability aspect of constructions. The concept of GSCM has been already implemented with success in other industries, however the construction industry has its particularities that demands a specific methodology of implementation of these concepts, taking in consideration the differences between the sectors. To address this issue, a systematic literature review was conducted to find how the concept of GSCM can be implemented in the construction industry. This review covered 26 peer reviewed or proceeding papers in the last 10 years about the use of GSCM practices in the construction sector. The results were divided into four distinct areas of research: supply chain relationships, market competitiveness, life cycle and waste management. The biggest findings from this research is that to obtain better sustainable results, these practices must be implemented in the full life cycle of the construction, mainly on the design phase, when the selection of materials happen. Also, most studies found that government incentives are needed to make it more viable for companies to implement GSCM into their operations.