A Study of the Drivers of Decarbonization in the Plastics Supply Chain in the Post-COVID-19 Era

Changping Zhao, Juanjuan Sun () and Yun Zhang
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Changping Zhao: School of Economics and Management, Yan’an University, Yan’an 716000, China
Juanjuan Sun: College of Maritime Economic and Management, Dalian Maritime University (DMU), Dalian 116026, China
Yun Zhang: China Triumph International Engineering Co., Ltd., Shanghai 200060, China

Sustainability, 2022, vol. 14, issue 23, 1-20

Abstract: Plastics are an important basic material for national economic development. In the post-COVID-19 stage, green supply chain management has attracted widespread attention. In order to achieve carbon neutrality in the plastics industry, we explored the drivers of supply chain decarbonization in the plastics industry from a microlevel corporate supply chain perspective. Four primary factors and 21 subfactors were identified from the existing literature, and after validation by 12 experts, the causal relationships between the factors were analyzed using the Gray-DEMATEL method. The Gray-DEMATEL method was applied to analyze the causal relationships between the factors. The findings show that joint promotion by stakeholders is the most significant cause driver and market impact is the most prominent driver in the first-level indicator, both of which have a significant impact on low-carbon production. “Process optimization”, “Top-management support”, “Government regulations and support”, and “Information disclosure” are the most significant cause secondary drivers under the corresponding Tier 1 indicator factors, respectively, to provide realistic guidance for companies engaged in the plastics industry to continue to develop a low-carbon circular economy to achieve net-zero emissions under the challenges of COVID-19. Therefore, companies need to focus on the drivers of most importance in this work and understand the interplay between factors.

Keywords: plastic supply chain; drivers; Gray-DEMATEL; decarbonization; carbon neutrality; COVID-19 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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