PortEconomics members Theo Notteboom and Larissa van der Lught, were among the prestigious speakers of Havencongres North Sea Port, organised in Rotterdam in October 2nd and their presentation titled “Green supply chains: Implications and challenges for Rhine-Scheldt Delta seaports” discuss the environmental impact of logistics systems as one of the main challenges to actors involved in global supply chains.
In the past decades, green supply chain management (GSCM) has developed in view of integrating environmental concerns into the inter-organizational practices of supply chain management. In the past few years, tighter regulatory requirements and strong demands for a cleaner and more sustainable environment exerted by communities at large (e.g. Youth for Climate) are pushing GSCM practices to the next level. The sense of urgency rises with an escalating deterioration of the environment, e.g. diminishing raw material resources, proven climate change impacts and increasing levels of pollution. Adding the “green” component to supply chain management involves addressing the influence and relationships of supply chain management to the natural environment.
Seaports are nodes in global supply chains. They generate environmental impacts through their various functions linked to cargo handling, connectivity to maritime and land transport networks, industrial and semi-industrial activities, logistics and distribution activities and energy production and distribution. Port-related pollution not only damages the ecological balance of nature and the urban environment, but also causes adverse effect on global climate change, which further increases the risk associated with port operations. Seaports, as clusters of economic actors and activities, have adopted a real environmental role and function and in this way (should) contribute to the greening of supply chains in the context of GSCM. The emergence of the ‘green port’ concept is closely associated with the growing environmental awareness of seaport actors.
Theo’s and Larissa’s presentation can be freely downloaded via PortEconomics.
