A contribution to Sustainable Logistics and Supply Chain - conceptual design to evaluate ecological and economical cause-effect relations in logistics planning processes

Abstract

In the recent years environmental protection is getting to the top of the agenda in politics, society and customer behaviour. In literature the basic principles of sustainability are known for a long time. Nevertheless, actual research does not cover adequately the practical facets of ecological sustainability in logistics. Our objective is to present an integrated view on ecological footprint analysis and decision-making. Starting with an exploratory empirical survey study the actual objectives, challenges and developments of ecological sustainability in logistics were identified. Based on a brief literature review a blueprint of the methodology was developed. In an action research approach this concept was prototypical used for the calculation of current emissions of major logistics process configurations and the development of improvement possibilities out of the calculation results.