Evaluating the effects of environmental regulations on a closed-loop supply chain network: a variational inequality approach

Abstract

Global climate change has encouraged international and regional adoption of pollution taxes and carbon emission reduction policies. Europe has taken the leadership in environmental regulations by introducing the European Union Emissions Trading System (EU-ETS) in 2005 and by promoting a set of policies destined to lower carbon emissions from energy, industrial, and transport sectors. These environmental policies have significantly affected the production choices of these European sectors.\ud \ud Considering this framework, the objective of this paper is to evaluate the effects of the application of environmental policies in a multitiered closed-loop supply chain network where raw material suppliers, manufacturers, consumers, and recovery centers operate. In particular, we assume that manufacturers are subject to the EU-ETS and a carbon tax is imposed on truck transport. In this way, the developed model captures carbon emission regulations, recycling, transportation and technological factors within a unified framework. In particular, it allows for evaluating the impacts of the considered environmental regulations on carbon emissions, product flows, and prices. The proposed model is optimized and solved by using the theory of variational inequalities. \ud \ud \ud Our analysis shows that the combined application of the EU-ETS at the manufacturers' tier and the carbon tax on truck transport implies additional costs for producers that reduce their good provisions. On the other side, this has a positive outcome for {the} environment since CO2 emissions reduce. Moreover, an increase of the efficiency level of the recycling process increments the availability of reusable raw material in the reverse supply chain. Finally, the distance between {a} couple of CLSC tiers plays a very important role. The lower is the distance covered by vehicles, the higher is the production of goods and the lower is the amount of CO2 emitted

Multi-Period E-Closed-Loop Supply Chain Network Considering Consumers’ Preference for Products and AI-Push

“…Considering the perspective of the multi-period CLSCN, Tao et al [48] analyzed the impact of carbon tax constraints on the multi-period CLSCN equilibrium from two different carbon emission policies. By comparing the above literature [9,23,[44][45][46][47][48], they considered the situation that consumers have no preference. Moreover, for consumers' preference for products on CLSCN, Qiang [10] studied the ability of competition and design for remanufacturing, and they investigated the consumers' perception towards the RP.…”

“…In the research method of CLSCN, due to the complexity of the network, multi-node enterprises have a cooperative and competitive relationship. The main research method is based on the theory of nonlinear programming and Nash equilibrium in non-cooperative game, and establishment of a CLSCN model by the method of variational inequality [8][9][10][21][22][23]39,44,46,48]. Also, other scholars developed other alternative research methods to solve complex CLSCN problems.…”

“…Variational inequality model can describe the competitive behavior between members at the same level and between members at the upper and lower levels and depict the overall equilibrium state of the system. Therefore, this paper is based on the theory of nonlinear programming and Nash equilibrium in the non-cooperative game, by using the method of variational inequality to model the multi-period E-CLSCN system [8][9][10][21][22][23]39,44,46,48]. The system includes multiple manufacturers, remanufacturers and demand markets-analysis of Enterprises' Stackelberg Game and the Equilibrium of E-CLSCN.…”

“…The study of this paper from a dynamic and static perspective is more in line with the actual situation. Thirdly, the consumers' preference for products [2,15,16,[30][31][32][33], e-channel [11,12,14,34], the behavior of corporate promotion under the e-channel [19,20,[35][36][37][38], CLSCN [9,23,[44][45][46][47][48], are explored and then the above questions are combined to be studied, which has not yet been explored. Finally, inspired by the research of Seuring et al [40] and Shashi et al [41,42], the sustainable thinking is included in this paper, that is, considering the e-channel can effectively reduce the impact of the middlemen's behavior on the environment, and study the problem the E-CLSCN equilibrium.…”

“…Would you buy remanufactured products? New products and remanufactured products have the same functions, but remanufactured products are46.72% This question is valid for the number of times 655 Q4. Are you satisfied with the remanufactured products currently on the market?…”