Carbon Footprint Of Logistics and Transportation: A Systematic Literature Review

Abstract

The fact that greenhouse gas emissions have greatly increased over the years with rapid industrialization and that carbon dioxide has the highest rate among these gases has revealed that carbon footprint is not a fashionable concept but a reality. Carbon footprint is the total amount of carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions caused directly or indirectly by an activity or accumulated during the life cycle of a product, and this concept is used in many industries to determine carbon emissions. Logistics and transportation are among the sectors producing the most CO2 in the world. The aim of this study is to provide a conceptual framework for the structure, limits and development trend of the carbon footprint in logistics and transportation through a comprehensive and systematic literature review. Systematic literature studies are carried out by considering one or more databases, and in this study, articles in the Web of Science (WoS) database are used. Within the scope of the study, 373 articles were reached as a result of the first search from the WoS database, and as a result of the examination of the inclusion and exclusion criteria of this study, title, abstract and keywords, 24 studies were included in the sample. As a result of the studies examined, the subject of logistics and transportation carbon footprint has been studied since 2010, most of the studies have been published in developed countries, quantitative methods are preferred more in studies and mainly trying to calculate the carbon footprint by developing case studies, models or methods, since the subject is new and its costs are relatively high, the application part of the carbon footprint could not be fully formed in the sector, there is a limited number of studies on the carbon footprint of international logistics and transportation and the carbon footprint of sustainable logistics and transportation in developing countries, it has been found that there are no studies examining the social effects of logistics and transportation carbon footprints. This study will systematically give an idea about the current knowledge and findings produced in the research field and serve as a guide for future research.