Abstract:
Purpose: The paper aims to provide a general overview of the impacts of climate change upon
supply chains and to analyze the implications of climate change for supply chain management
in terms of strategic and operational planning. A roadmap of fruitful research approaches is
also presented.
Design/methodology/approach: The paper makes use of a general review of the relevant literature
and, based on a systematic categorization of the findings, looks for useful insights towards the
issues of climate change and supply chain management. A framework is drawn for
systematically assessing the impacts of climate change upon supply chains and their
management, while making suggestions for future research.
Findings: Supply chain networks run physical, operational and reputational risks attributed to
climate change. Escalation in regulations, market forces and stakeholders’ pressures are paving
the way for the decarbonization of supply chains with obvious implications for supply chain
management. Supply chain managers should pay special attention to the impacts of climate
change on supply chains and academics should further explore the interrelationships between
climate change and supply chain design and operations.
Research limitations/implications: Additional qualitative research based on grounded theory is
suggested for validating and interconnecting the findings with empirical data. Practical implications: The paper provides several insights towards the issues of supply chain
management in view of climate change and may serve as an initial basis for exploring future
research directions by academics. Practitioners, especially those drafting value-creating supply
chain agendas, may also find these insights useful for improving their managerial practices.
Originality/value: By providing an original structured overview of the impacts of climate change
upon supply chain design and operations management the paper substantiates the need for
management improvements and provides research directions that may prove valuable to
researchers.
