Modelling the enablers of food supply chain for reduction in carbon footprint

Abstract

Reducing carbon footprints has become a pertinent global issue. The creation of carbon footprints is germane in the food supply chain owing to food-wastage. Food is a valuable commodity that not only quickly transforms to waste but also adversely impacts the environment. It leads to loss of labour hours, futile resources, unfed lives, lost profits and an increase in environmental hazards. With this backdrop, the present study aims to identify the key enablers which are crucial in diminishing the inefficiencies across the entire food supply chain. Interpretive structural modelling and matrix of cross-impact multiplications applied to classification techniques are used to understand the interdependence of the shortlisted enablers. The study provides holistic and practical insights to the stakeholders for improving the effectiveness of their firms by level partitioning the enablers as ‘givens’ (regulations and governance), ‘means’ (technology, financial implication, perishability, logistics and traceability) and ‘ends’ (inventory management, storage, collaboration, trust, hygiene, packaging and information sharing). The research findings will facilitate the strategic decision making regarding the reduction in the wastage of food thereby diminishing the level of carbon footprint creation. Apart from providing significant implications for the policymakers, the results also add the theoretical implications in the extant literature.