Recycling plastic can abate the environmental pollution as well as CO2 emissions by saving the carbon-intensive feedstock input. The uncertain carbon price places significant effects on the establishment and operation of the whole supply chain. This study develops a green supply chain model combined with geographic information system (GIS) to account for carbon price uncertainty and evaluate its effects on the closed-loop supply chain (CLSC) of plastic recycling. A two-stage stochastic programming model is constructed, in which the stochastic variable, CO2 price is modeled as a geometric Brownian motion process. Six scenarios are designed with respect to price expectation and volatility. A case study is performed with the GIS information of the plastic supply chain in Zhejiang province, China. The results illustrate that triggering the establishment of reverse logistics requires a carbon price threshold significantly beyond current level. Lower price volatility would facilitate the decision-making of investment into the reverse logistics. Mechanisms to alleviate the market variation shall be introduced. A sound market condition is desired to obtain the optimal balance that encourages the CLSC without creating extra pressure on the firms. The proposed modeling framework can be easily applied to other sectors with similar characteristics.

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Our societies are continuously grappling with how to achieve rapid economic growth while 5 minimizing the challenges of environmental sustainability. In this avenue, numerous studies have 6 contributed towards investigating socioeconomic factors and developing policies targeting 7 environmental pressures (EPs). While previous studies have tended to focus on the individual 8 driving forces of EPs, the consideration of the co-benefits and trade-offs among different EPs and policies have been considerably overlooked. In China, previous studies have mostly engaged these issues at the national level and have overlooked the regional socioeconomic characteristics-this presents a mismatch between regional policy applications and average national level research findings. Towards this end, this study examines the co-benefits and trade-offs of eight EPs in Zhejiang during the 2007-2015 period. Our findings revealed strict co-benefits in reductions of all eight EPs due to intensity changes as well as trade-offs due to changes in final demand structure and final demand composition. Sectoral results show that only the Non-Ferrous Metal Ores sector has strict co-benefits among all EPs from the production perspective, while eight sectors have strict co-benefits from the consumption perspective mainly including the Mining and Washing of Coal, Ferrous Metal Ores, Electric Power and Heat Power sectors. Our findings suggest important policy implications associated with utilizing co-benefits and avoiding trade-offs for EP mitigation: making full use of all driving forces, strengthening intersectoral coordination, and establishing a joint evaluation mechanism among different sectors.