Energy Consumption and Environmental Impact of E-Grocery: A Systematic Literature Review

Soukaina Aziz, Ila Maltese, Edoardo Marcucci (), Valerio Gatta, Rachid Benmoussa and El Hassan Irhirane
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Soukaina Aziz: ENSA Marrakech, Cadi Ayyad University, Marrakech 40000, Morocco
Ila Maltese: TRElab (Transport Research Lab), Department of Political Sciences, Roma Tre University, Via Gabriello Chiabrera 199, 00145 Rome, Italy
Edoardo Marcucci: TRElab (Transport Research Lab), Department of Political Sciences, Roma Tre University, Via Gabriello Chiabrera 199, 00145 Rome, Italy
Valerio Gatta: TRElab (Transport Research Lab), Department of Political Sciences, Roma Tre University, Via Gabriello Chiabrera 199, 00145 Rome, Italy
Rachid Benmoussa: ENSA Marrakech, Cadi Ayyad University, Marrakech 40000, Morocco
El Hassan Irhirane: ENSA Marrakech, Cadi Ayyad University, Marrakech 40000, Morocco

Energies, 2022, vol. 15, issue 19, 1-16

Abstract: E-grocery is fast growing worldwide and represents a relevant issue for city logistics. Although in almost all countries the percentage of food e-buyers was lower than those purchasing other commodity categories, due to the pandemic, they have increased significantly in the last two years, with consequences that are difficult to fathom and estimate. This phenomenon therefore deserves more attention, especially with respect to its environmental impact, mostly at the urban scale. This paper presents a systematic literature review (SLR) on how e-grocery impacts the environment through the CO 2 emissions generated and the equivalent energy consumption. The methodology used for the review follows a standard approach, with different combinations of keywords used for the search performed in SCOPUS and the Web of Science databases. Emissions and energy consumption assessments were performed for all of the papers considered. The results point to two different findings: some studies consider online grocery as an environmentally friendly channel, while others note that the energy consumption of this emerging channel is higher than alternative ones. This paper contributes by suggesting future research directions to be explored on the relationship between e-grocery and energy use and provides some reflections that are useful not only to e-grocers and logistics operators, but also to policy makers with an interest in developing sustainable urban plans and promoting less environmentally impacting distributions/configurations of grocery delivery systems within city logistics.

Keywords: e-grocery; energy consumption; environmental impact; city logistics; SLR (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q Q0 Q4 Q40 Q41 Q42 Q43 Q47 Q48 Q49 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jeners:v:15:y:2022:i:19:p:7289-:d:933173

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