MIT Sustainable Supply Chain Lab
What are Sustainable Supply Chains?
Supply chains are a powerful mechanism for connecting people and products, providing a ready venue for industry and stakeholders to collaboratively advance the Sustainable Development Goals. As consumers, governments, and investors become increasingly conscious of environmental and social issues, many companies seek to address their concerns by reconsidering their supply chains. But identifying, and more importantly, finding appropriate solutions for better and more sustainable systems proves challenging to most corporations that need to carefully balance competing business objectives and priorities.
The challenge
After the COVID-19 pandemic, and even before, the increase in logistics intensity due to e-commerce is pushing companies to offer faster and more frequent deliveries, which increases fuel consumption and CO2 emissions. Currently, transportation is the industry that contributes the most to greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in the United States.
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Contribution of Transportation to the total emissions of GHG in the US
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Contribution of Transportation to the total emissions of GHG globally
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Online shopping share in the total retail trade
Our mission
The MIT Sustainable Supply Chain Lab aims to support organizations to improve logistics and supply chain operations by creating applied and innovative research aimed at fostering growth while considering environmental and social sustainability. We connect research outcomes to practical settings, enabling companies and stakeholders to leverage supply chains as a beneficial force to reach global sustainable development goals. We also seek to improve the visibility of supply chain impacts and develop strategies to help reduce them, so companies can better address consumer, political, and shareholder concerns.
Current Research Initiatives
Sustainable Supply Chain engages in research with industry-leading companies, institutions and fellow academics.
Electrification of the Supply Chain
Consumer-faced logistics sustainability
Carbon Footprint
Sustainable Transportation
Circular Supply Chains
State of Supply Chain Sustainability
Sustainable Supply Chain Management Online Course
Transform your organization’s climate pledges into actionable strategies through better supply chain management. Modeled on our for-credit MIT course, SCM.290x provides the foundation for you to meet stakeholders’ demands for supply chain sustainability.
Stay connected to learn more about the next run of the course SCM.290x.
Our Research Partners
More Sustainable Research at MIT CTL
The MIT Center for Transportation & Logistics has several Sustainable initiatives that aim to connect research outcomes to practical settings, enabling companies and stakeholders to leverage supply chains as a beneficial force to reaching sustainable development goals.
Humanitarian Supply Chain Lab
MegaCity Logistics Lab
Sustainable Supply Chain Updates
50 Years of Earth Day: MIT Perspectives in the Face of Radical Change
Join us on the 50th Earth Day to explore what the path forward may look like to the 2050 Climate Goals and a more sustainable future in the face of radical change. The session will explore ecological, political, technological, and industrial perspectives on the...
New publication: Reviewing the material and metal security of low-carbon energy transitions
Suzanne collaborated with Colorado School of Mines Payne Institute of Public Policy and a number of esteemed co-authors on a new paper in the journal Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews. The global transition to a low-carbon economy will involve changes in...
Alexis is a supply chain hero
We are very proud that our very own Director Alexis Bateman was selected by IBM as a Supply Chain Hero. Check out her interview here: ...
In the news
We are trying to keep track of all the latest news from our sustainability team! To that end, we will post snippets from news items featuring our team from time to time. Check out the latest interviews Alexis and Suzanne have given! Feb 2020: Supply chain resilience...
Roundtable Event – Circularity in the Supply Chain
View the research project on circular supply chains, here, and if you're interested in getting involved, contact us at ctl-sustainabilty@mit.edu. "Waste is just excess material in the wrong person's hands." Inspiration from our event yesterday where we hosted the...
Bloomberg article- Dr. Josué Velázquez Martínez on the environmental impact of fast shipping
Bloomberg’s article “Amazon’s New Environmental Report Will Show How Bad Two-Day Shipping Is” mentioned the position from MIT Sustainable Logistics Director, Dr. Josué Velázquez Martínez, regarding the environmental impact of fast shipping for e-commerce.
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