Comparing decarbonization potential of digital and green technologies

Abstract

Digitization and green technologies are major trends for our economy, which has to keep pace with technological development and tackle the severe crises of our biosphere. Ecological improvements are often considered as an important by-product and motivation for implementing Industry 4.0 measures. A systematic literature review underlines this win-win implementation, but points out that the effect is so far not quantified. To address this gap, a set of Food Logistics 4.0 measures and a set of green measures are compared, in the scope of the carbon footprints of a national and overseas fresh apple supply chain. A method to estimate the decarbonization potential of technologies, based on secondary data and expert opinion is presented and applied. Most of the Food Logistic 4.0 bear a relatively low potential to reduce the emissions. Therefore, they need to be flanked by green measures to reach the political goals for CO2 reduction.