Research

Sustainable Supply Chain Lab

We develop data-driven solutions that help organizations decarbonize, design greener logistics, and achieve measurable sustainability impact.
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The MIT Sustainable Supply Chain Lab (SSCL) helps organizations improve their 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.

State of Supply Chain Sustainability survey: 2026 announcement

The challenge of sustainable supply chains

Supply chains are key in connecting people and products, offering a platform for industries and stakeholders to work together toward their sustainable development goals. As consumers, governments, and investors grow more aware of environmental and social issues, companies are rethinking their supply chains. However, finding effective, sustainable solutions is challenging, as businesses must balance competing priorities and objectives.

The increase in logistics intensity due to the growth of e-commerce — particularly since the COVID-19 pandemic — 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.

Key stats

%
Contribution of transportation to the total emissions of GHG in the US
%
Contribution of transportation to the total emissions of GHG globally
%
Online shopping share in the total retail trade

Research initiatives

Electrification of the supply chain
Unveiling a visionary approach to overcome the hurdle of limited electric vehicle (EV) range, our project aims to pave the way for heavy electric trucks in first- and middle-mile operations in partnership with Maersk.
Sustainable transportation
The reduction of fuel consumption has become increasingly more important as its price and volatility continue to rise. This objective aligns with the sustainable efforts to reduce CO2 pollution.
Consumer-faced logistics sustainability
E-commerce’s rapid growth, combined with customer demand for fast shipping, has significantly escalated last-mile transportation, particularly home deliveries. This surge calls for novel strategies to optimize vehicle utilization while maintaining timely delivery.
Circular supply chains
The Circular Supply Chain Initiative in MIT’s Center for Transportation & Logistics envisions and explores how companies can leverage supply chain circularity to contribute to their sustainability goals, with a special focus on waste.
Carbon footprint
Carbon emissions are the de facto currency of climate change, yet many companies struggle to quantify carbon emissions, especially in the supply chain.
State of Supply Chain Sustainability report
Each year, the lab conducts research on how businesses worldwide are turning sustainability commitments into action and offers its findings in a report.

Research projects

Enhancing Scope 3 Category 1 emissions estimation with machine learning and LLMs
The role of a strong mother brand in promoting 0.0% beers
Understanding the accuracy of corporate Scope 3 emissions reporting
Impact of sales push strategies on sales and waste in the dairy industry
Environmental impact of dietitians’ decisions in clinical nutrition
MIT CTL Sustainable Transportation Consortium
GHG emissions associated with food waste
Sustainable logistics
Rental vs. fast fashion clothing
Scope 3 Emissions Consortium (STEC)

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.

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Publications

2025

Caplice, C. and Velázquez Martinez, J.C. (2025) Navigating the road to zero-emission trucking, Supply Chain Management Review. Link 

2024

Velázquez Martínez, J.C., and Arnold, V. “State of Supply Chain Sustainability 2024” (Cambridge, Mass. and Lombard, Ill.: MIT Center for Transportation & Logistics and Council of Supply Chain Management Professionals, September 2024). Link

2023
  • MIT Center for Transportation & Logistics, Council of Supply Chain Management Professionals. (2023) State of Supply Chain Sustainability Report 2023. Link
  • Tartaglia, M. A., & Wang, Y. M. (2023). Sustainable Network Design of Perishable Foods.
  • Dildabekov, N., & Rai, R. (2023). Impact analysis of packaging box composition on supply chain emissions (A case study with Dell Technologies).
2022
  • Lestari, N., & Xiong, J. Y. (2022). The Impact of Logistics Provider Data Maturity in Defining Scope 3 Transportation Emissions (Doctoral dissertation).
  • Farran, K., & McCormack, T. (2022). A Direct Route to Sustainability: A Network Optimization Model to Reduce UNICEF Zimbabwe’s Carbon Footprint (Doctoral dissertation).
2021
  • Arroyo-López, P., Velázquez-Martínez, J.C., & Gámez-Pérez, K. M. (2021). Past behavior as a predictor of eco-driving practices: The case of a sustained intervention in a Mexican transportation company. International Journal of Sustainable Transportation, 1-14. Link
  • Muñoz-Villamizar, A., Velázquez-Martínez, J.C., Haro, P., Ferrer, A., & Mariño, R. (2021). The environmental impact of fast shipping ecommerce in inbound logistics operations: A case study in Mexico. Journal of Cleaner Production, 283, 125400. Link
  • Muñoz-Villamizar, Velázquez-Martínez, J.C., Mejía-Argueta, C., Gamez-Perez , K.M. (2021). The impact of shipment consolidation strategies for green home delivery: A case study in a Mexican retail company. Accepted for publication in International Journal of Production Research.
2020
  • Banerjee, Saikat. (2020). E-Commerce-Based Closed-Loop Supply Chain for Plastic Recycling. Link
  • Bateman, Alexis and Cottrill, Ken. (2020) Domestic Labor Issues Pose Hidden Supply Chain Risks. MIT Supply Chain Blog. Link
  • Greene, Suzanne & Punte, Sophie. (2020) Closing the Logistics Emissions Disclosure Gap. Smart Freight Centre and CDP. Link
  • Dame, Cat & Hefny, Abdelrahman. (2020) Decarbonizing Freight Transportation Using Carbon Offsets. Supply Chain Management Review. Link
  • Mejia-Argueta, Chris. (2020) Localization is Seeding Innovation Produce Supply Chains.  MIT Supply Chain Blog. Link
  • Cannon, C., Greene, S., Koch Blank, T., Lee, J., and Natali, P.  (2020) The Next Frontier of Carbon Accounting: A Unified Approach for Unlocking Systemic Change.” Rocky Mountain Institute. 2020. Link
  • Greene, Suzanne and Harden, R. Dave. (2020) In troubled times, climate change is the ‘black elephant.’ The Hill. Link
  • Lee, J., Bazilian, M., Sovacool, B., Hund, K., Jowitt, S.M., Nguyen, T.P., Månberger, A., Kah, M., Greene, S., Galeazzi, C., Awuah-Offei, K., Moats, M., Tilton, J., and S. Kukoda. (2020) Reviewing the material and metal security of low-carbon energy transitions. Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Volume 124. Link
  • Greene, Suzanne and Harden, R. Dave. (2020) Escaping the Hell’s kitchen of climate change. The Hill. Link
2019
  • Muñoz-Villamizar, A., Santos, J., Montoya-Torres, J. R., Velázquez-Martínez, J.C. (2019). Measuring environmental performance of urban freight transport systems: A case study. Sustainable Cities and Society, 52, 101844.
  • Greene, S. & Façanha, C. Carbon offsets for freight transport decarbonization. Nature Sustainability. (2019). Link
  • Greene, S. & Lewis, A. (2019) Global Logistics Emissions Council Framework for Logistics Emissions Accounting Methodologies. Smart Freight Centre. Link
  • Greene, S. (2019) How to Make CO2 a KPI for Freight Transportation. MIT Supply Chain Blog. Link
  • Sheffi, Y. (2019) Corporate Hot Air No Substitute for Real Action on Climate Change. MIT Supply Chain Blog. Link
  • Natali, P, Greene, S., & Toledano, P. How much carbon dioxide is actually in your products? MIT Supply Chain Blog. Link
  • Velázquez-Martínez, J., Gámez-Pérez, K. & Cottrill, K. An Alternative Route to a Fuel-Efficient Last Mile. MIT Supply Chain Blog. Link
  • Chena,W., Kucukyazicib,B., Jesus Saenz, M. On the joint dynamics of the economic and environmental performances for collective take-back systems. International Journal of Production Economics 218 (2019) 228–244. Link
  • Alvarado, C., & Liu, Y. (2019). E-commerce and the environment: Finding the optimal location for in-store pick-up.
2018
  • Sheffi, Y. & Cottrill, K. Why We Need a New Manhattan Project to Combat Climate Change. MIT Supply Chain Blog. Link
  • Sheffi, Y. (2018) Profits v. Planet: Can Big Business and the Environment Get Along? MIT Supply Chain Blog. Link
  • Sheffi, Y. (2018) Setting a Course for Viable Sustainability. MIT Supply Chain Blog. Link
  • Pennekamp, F., Pontarp, M., Tabi, A., Altermatt, F., Alther, R., Choffat, Y., Fronhofer, E., Ganesanandamoorthy, P., Garnier, A., Griffiths, J., Greene, S., Horgan, K., Massie, T., Mächler, E., Palamara, GM., Seymour, M. and Petchey, O. Biodiversity increases and decreases ecosystem stability. Nature. 2018. Link
  • Greene, S. (2018). What’s Missing? Scope 3 Greenhouse Gas Emissions Accounting in The Metals And Minerals Industry.” Matériaux & Techniques 105, 503. Link
  • Sheffi, Y., & Blanco, E. (2018). Balancing Green. MIT Press. Link
  • WWF. “Transport Science-Based Target Setting Guidance.” Greene, S., Ed. WWF. 2018.
  • Bukhari, M., Carrasco-Gallego, R. and Ponce-Cueto, E. Developing a national programme for textiles and clothing recovery. Waste Management & Research. 2018, Vol. 36(4) 321–331. Link
2017
  • Leenders, B. P., Velázquez-Martínez, J.C., & Fransoo, J. C. (2017). Emissions allocation in transportation routes. Transportation Research Part D: Transport and Environment, 57, 39-51. Link
  • Bozic, D. & A. Bateman (2017). Social Transparency in Global Apparel Supply Chains: Legal and Technological Influences. In Eco Friendly and Fair: Fast Fashion and Consumer Behavior. Greenleaf Publishing.
  • Brennan, M., Goentzel, J., Gooding, E., Green J., and Spielberg, J. (2017). Scaling Adoption of Hermetic Post-harvest Storage Technologies in Uganda. MIT Comprehensive Initiative on Technology Evaluation. Link
  • Correll, D.H.C., Suzuki, Y. and Martens, B.J. (2017). The diversity-logistics hypothesis: how animals and manufacturers stand to reduce inbound logistics and inventory costs through diversity, Progress in Industrial Ecology – An International Journal, Vol. 11.
  • Greene, S. (2017). Logistics Emissions Move Into the Spotlight. UPS Longitudes.
  • Greene, S. (2017). Black Carbon Methodology for the Logistics Sector. UN Climate and Clean Air Coalition. Link
  • Leenders, B.P.J., Velázquez-Martínez, J.C., Fransoo, J.C. (2017). Emissions Allocation in Transportation Routes. Transportation Research Part D: Transport and Environment.
2016
  • Acimovic, J., and Goentzel, J.  (2016) Models and metrics to assess humanitarian response capacity. Journal of Operations Management, Volume 45, Pages 11 – 29, July 2016. Link
  • Carland, C., and Goentzel, J. (2016). Evaluating Business Criteria for Scaling Stock of Malaria Rapid Diagnostics. MIT Comprehensive Initiative on Technology Evaluation. Link
  • Greene, S. and Lewis, A. (2016). A Harmonized Approach for Calculating Greenhouse Gas Emissions from Freight Transportation. Environmental Management.
  • Sheffi, Y. and Blanco, E.E. (2016). Green Logistics. In Sustainable Supply Chains. Edited by Y. Bouchery, T. Tan., J. Fransoo, & C. Corbett. Springer.
  • Velázquez-Martínez, J.C., Fransoo, J.C.,Blanco, E.E., Valenzuela-Ocaña, K. (2016). A New Statistical Method of Assigning Vehicles to Delivery Areas for CO2 Emissions Reduction. Transportation Research Part D: Transport and Environment.
  • Velázquez-Martínez, J.C., Fransoo. J.C. (2016). Green Facility Location. In Sustainable Supply Chains. Edited by Y. Bouchery, T. Tan., J. Fransoo, & C. Corbett. Springer.
2015
  • Goentzel, J., and Heigh, I. (2015) Supply Chains in Crisis. Inside Logistics, Pages 16 – 18. link.
  • Greene, S. and Lewis, A. (2015). Global Logistics Emissions Council Framework for Logistics Emissions Methodologies. Smart Freight Centre. Link
  • Kirchain, R., Olivetti, E., Miller, TR, and Greene, S. (2015). Sustainable Apparel Materials. MIT Materials Systems Laboratory. Link
  • Jairo R. Montoya-Torres, Edgar Gutierrez-Franco & Edgar E. Blanco (2015) Conceptual framework for measuring carbon footprint in supply chains, Production Planning & Control, 26:4, 265-279
  • Velázquez-Martínez, J.C., Blanco, E.E., Fransoo, J. C., Mora-Vargas, J. (2015). Transportation Cost and CO2 Emissions in Location Decision Models. Beta Research School for Operations Management and Logistics/ TU/e. Working Paper series 451.
  • Chen, W., Kucukyazici, B., Verter, V., Jesús Sáenz, M. Supply chain design for unlocking the value of remanufacturing under uncertainty. European Journal of Operational Research, Volume 247, Issue 3, 2015, Pages 804-819. Link
  • Velázquez-Martínez, J.C., Blanco, E.E., Fransoo, J. C., Mora-Vargas, J. (2015). Transportation cost and CO2 emissions in location decision models. Beta Research School for Operations Management and Logistics/ TU/e. Working Paper series 451. Link
2014
  • Blanco, E.E. and Cottrill, K. (2014). Closing the loop on a circular supply chain. Supply Chain Management Review.
  • Blanco, E.E. and Cottrill, K.(2014). Delivering on the promise of green logistics. MIT Sloan Management Review.
  • Correll, D.; Suzuki, Y. and Martens, B.J., (2014). Biorenewable fuels at the intersection of product and process flexibility: A novel modeling approach and application. International Journal of Production Economics.
  • Correll, D.; Suzuki, Y. and Martens, B.J. (2014) .Logistical supply chain design for bioeconomy applications. Biomass & Bioenergy 66, pp. 60-69.
  • Juan, A., Goentzel, J. and Bektas, T. Routing Fleets with Multiple Driving Ranges: is it possible to use greener fleet configurations? Applied Soft Computing, Volume 21, pages 84–94. Link
  • Velázquez-Martínez, J.C., Fransoo, J.C., Blanco, E.E., Mora-Vargas, J. (2014). The Impact of Carbon Footprinting Aggregation on Realizing Emission Reduction Targets. Flexible Services and Manufacturing Journal, 1-25.
2013
  • Craig, A., Blanco E.E., and Sheffi,Y. (2013). Estimating the CO2 intensity of intermodal freight transportation. Transportation Research Part D: Transport and Environment, Volume 22, 2013, Pages 49-53.
  • Efendigil, T. Modelling Product Returns in a Closed-Loop Supply Chain Under Uncertainties: A Neuro Fuzzy Approach. Journal of multiple-valued logic and soft computing 23(3):407-426, 2013.
2012
  • Sullivan, E., Goentzel, J., and Weintraub, R. (2012) The Global Health Supply Chain. Concept Note GHD-C01, Harvard Business School Publishing, Boston. Link
  • Ponce, E. & González-Manteca, J. Impact of Emerging Environmental Regulations on the Reverse Logistics System for Portable Batteries in Spain. Environmental Issues in Supply Chain Management: New Trends and Applications. 2012. Link
  • Carrasco-Gallego, R., Ponce-Cueto, E. & Dekker, R. Closed-loop supply chains of reusable articles: a typology grounded on case studies. International Journal of Production Research, 50:19, 5582-5596. Link
2011

Greene, S., Adames, J., Alonzo, A., and Forterre, D. (2011) Business Decisions Around Carbon Offsets: Examining the Drivers of Value and Sources of Uncertainty.” MIT Leaders in Environmental Assessment and Performance. Link

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