GHG emissions of supply chains from different retail systems in Europe

An approach has been developed to collect data and measure energy use and GHG emissions from logistics activities for product supply chains. This approach has been used to assess the GHG efficiency of several supply chains of the same product marketed through different types of retail systems in Europe. The retail types considered are hyper and supermarkets, corner shops, open-air markets, producer's basket direct sale, farm shops and e-commerce; Their GHG efficiencies are quantified and compared for food products, considering whole supply chains from the farm gate where they are grown to the consumer's home. This supply chain efficiency approach highlights the importance of the various operations carried out within the supply chains, such as transport, warehousing, the shop itself, and even consumer behaviour for the last mile. While supermarkets in towns, shops included in a delivery system, or open air markets in town centre appears to be very efficient, rural area and independent shops with lower turnover are less favourable. Indeed, the outcomes of an online consumer survey show large differences amongst the GHG efficiency values for all these retail systems. Therefore, potential logistics choices for improving the supply chain performance could be identified. © 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.