Environmental Sustainability under E-Commerce: A Holistic Perspective

Abstract

Following COVID-19 there was a transformation in how individuals purchase products and services, with a major shift and dependency. Websites such as Amazon, eBay, and Alibaba have changed the way products are sold and allowed for-profit companies to reach a much broader market. The most important effect of the rising use of e-commerce in green marketing is the increased need for research on the environmental consequences of e-commerce. This article addresses environmental sustainability in e-commerce with the aim of understanding changes in sustainable logistics, green packaging, and recycled products, as well as identifying issues such as reducing carbon emissions in a holistic manner by exploring the literature on secondary sources, which primarily served as a source of information for academics and practitioners (including conference papers, articles, and book reviews). According to Lin et al. (2020), most academic research in green marketing has focused on the environmental implications of e-commerce over the last several years. The Green Revolution has been a global movement for several years. E-commerce is part of the revolution. Some researchers suggest that e-commerce is more environment-friendly than traditional retail sales, whereas others support the opposite. Literature on e-commerce environmental sustainability proposes a holistic perspective aimed at contemplating environmental sustainability under the impact of e-commerce. In the future, companies should consider trade-offs in various dimensions to achieve e-commerce sustainability, thus facilitating the discovery of maximum benefits from integrating environmental aspects in e-commerce. In 2016, 194 parties (193 states and the European Union) around the world signed the Paris Agreement, which aims to reduce global warming and CO2 emissions.