A Study On Low Carbon Supply Chain Decision Making Under Differentiated Emission Reduction Policies

In recent years,the rapid development of the world economy has brought about many problems such as climate deterioration and environmental damage.The theme of global economic development has gradually shifted to low carbon economy with the concept of low energy consumption and low pollution.With the gradual awakening of consumers’ awareness of low carbon and environmental protection,more and more customers turn their attention to low carbon supply chain and start to pay attention to the carbon emission in the operation of supply chain.How to promote the supply chain system for carbon emission reduction and promote the sustainable development of lowcarbon economy has become a top priority for governments to address.This paper considers two behavioral factors,namely retailers’ social responsibility concern and consumers’ low carbon preference,and studies the decision making of low carbon supply chain under two models of carbon trading policy and carbon tax policy,in order to provide decision support for the healthy operation of supply chain,and the main findings can be summarized as the following three aspects:(1)Low carbon investment coefficients affect manufacturers’ motivation to reduce emissions.Under the carbon trading model,when the low-carbon investment coefficient is larger,manufacturers tend to purchase more carbon allowances,which leads to a decrease in emission reduction rate.To compensate for the loss of market share due to insufficient emission reductions,manufacturers’ wholesale prices and retailers’ selling prices are reduced.An increase in the coefficient of low carbon investment means that it is more difficult to reduce emissions and the cost of emission reduction required increases,which in turn hinders the development of low carbon supply chains.(2)When retailers focus on social responsibility,the market demand for products will increase accordingly.The higher social responsibility concern means that retailers have to bear more costs,and consumers’ demand for product quality and low carbon level increases,prompting manufacturers to increase investment in emission reduction and retailers to reduce sales prices,resulting in lower profits for retailers and higher profits for the supply chain system.Under the carbon tax model,as retailers’ social responsibility concerns increase,the selling price of products will gradually increase,while the wholesale price will show a decreasing trend.(3)The supply chain system under the carbon trading model has a higher profit ceiling,but the profitability of the supply chain system under the carbon tax model is more stable.The social responsibility concern behavior of retailers plays an important role in regulating the supply chain under the carbon trading model.When retailers’ social responsibility concern increases,the overall profit of the supply chain decreases and vice versa,and the change of the overall profit of the supply chain is affected by the social responsibility concern to a much higher extent than under the carbon tax model,so the carbon tax model can make the relationship between corporate profit and social welfare closer and better promote the supply chain Therefore,the carbon tax model can make the relationship between corporate profits and social welfare closer,and promote the sustainable operation of the supply chain system and improve the overall welfare of society.The supply chain system in the carbon trading model needs to sacrifice some social concerns in order to obtain more benefits.