Logistics and the environment: Is it an established subject?

Abstract

The issue of environmental implications of logistics systems is one of the future challenges to logisticians. The purpose of this paper is to explore the logistics and supply chain management (SCM) discipline to see how the scientific community handles this challenge. Observations in the primary literature have revealed that there are weak ties between the logistics/SCM discipline and the environmental discipline. Our analysis indicates that the literature seems to be unbalanced: knowledge about assessing “impact of logistics on environment” is missing, and most emphasis is on “impact of environment on logistics”. Knowledge about implementation comes mainly within reverse logistics literature, which has been described by scholars as exploratory and anecdotal. When comparing the subject logistics/supply chain management and environment (log/SC and environ) with other subjects in the logistics literature, less attention has been paid to “log/SC and environ”. Moreover, almost half the articles on “log/SC and environ” are published outside the primary logistics-related journals.