The realization that the rapid pace of economic development, characterized by intensive use of environmental resources and the generation of significant amounts of pollution, can degrade the quality of life for society and lead to a reduction in production levels has led to increased interest in environmental protection in recent decades. The pursuit of sustainable development—defined as socio-economic development that integrates political, economic, and social actions while maintaining ecological balance and the durability of natural processes to guarantee the ability to meet the basic needs of both current and future generations—has gained significant importance.
The concept of sustainable development is applied at various levels. Examples include: sustainable production (a model of production activity where productivity growth is accompanied by a reduction in the amount of raw materials used, lower production costs, and a decrease in the amount of pollution emitted into the environment), sustainable consumption (a lifestyle in which individuals and social groups use available natural resources, goods, and services optimally, consciously, and responsibly, considering their environmental impact throughout their entire life cycle), and sustainable construction (the design, construction, and use of environmentally friendly facilities that fit into the space and develop social ties while ensuring the minimization of their negative impact on the surroundings).
The concept of sustainable development also appears in logistics in the context of the supply chain, where the goal is to organize flows in such a way that they have the least possible impact on the state of the natural environment and, consequently, on the quality of life for society. Achieving sustainable development requires the integration of actions in three key areas: economic, environmental, and social, in order to maximize the sum of the effects generated in each. In practice, tools allowing for such a joint assessment are used to a limited extent. Instead, tools that allow for the assessment of the scale of effects arising in each of these three areas separately are commonly used. These include: economic efficiency assessment methods used to determine the level of financial effects generated by the introduction of a given solution, Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) used to determine the impact of a given solution on the natural environment throughout its entire life cycle, and indicator analysis allowing for the determination of the level of social quality of life. A similar situation exists regarding the assessment of a sustainable supply chain. While the literature on the subject does contain tools used to assess the economic effects generated by a supply chain and tools allowing for the assessment of its “greening” degree, there is a lack of comprehensive solutions that would enable an answer to the question of whether a given supply chain can truly be called “sustainable”.
For this reason, this article attempts to present the possibilities of using environmental life cycle costing in the assessment of a sustainable supply chain. The presented study is theoretical and review-based, indicating aspects and possibilities for implementing the proposed solution in economic practice.
Green, sustainable, and responsible supply chain
A supply chain is a network of connected and interdependent organizations that, by working together, create value in the form of products and services delivered to final consumers. The chain consists of entities—manufacturers, suppliers, transport companies, warehousing companies, retailers—that jointly carry out activities allowing for the satisfaction of demand for specific products, from the moment of acquiring raw materials to their delivery to the final recipient. An efficiently functioning supply chain is a key condition for responding to the changing market situation. Its operation is intended to ensure that the right products, in the right quantity and price, and of the right quality, are delivered to the right place, at the right time, and to the right recipient. To make this possible, appropriate supply chain management is necessary, understood as the process of planning, organizing, and controlling all activities allowing for the flow of goods, information, and financial resources across individual links of the supply chain in such a way that, while meeting customer requirements, the revenue generated from the execution of a given order exceeds the level of costs incurred by entities throughout the entire supply chain.
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Source: Logistyka Magazine