Research On Carbon Emission Strategies In Low-carbon Supply Chain Under Cap-and-trade Regulation Policy

The formulation of relevant Governments' regulations and policies on carbon emission control,as well as consumers' increasing environmental awareness,have brought pressure and new requirements to supply chain management.The low-carbon supply chain has been widely concerned in the academic research and actual operation.On the one hand,it can effectively alleviate the environmental pressure through reducing carbon emission.On the other hand,carbon quota trading in the low-carbon supply chain can bring economic benefits.Meanwhile,the enterprises in the supply chain have to consider the recycling and remanufacturing of products in their regular operation,due to the governments' management requirements on the end-of-life products.In this study,the game theory and the relevant supply chain management theories/methods were applied to analyze the carbon emission reduction management of low-carbon supply chain from three different perspectives,namely operation management level,carbon emission control policy level and supply chain structure design level.For the above circumstances,the carbon emission reduction models of the low-carbon supply chain were established,respectively.Furthermore,the carbon emission reduction and production operation decisions were discussed in the low-carbon supply chain,where the emphasis was put on the impact of cost-sharing contract,initial carbon quota allocation mechanism and reverse logistics on low-carbon supply chain management.Firstly,the impact of cost-sharing contract on carbon emission reduction and production decisions was studied in the low-carbon supply chain.According to the cap-and-trade regulation,the manufacturer is directly involved in carbon emission reduction,whereas the retailer indirectly participates in carbon emission reduction by low-carbon promotion.Given the time sequence of the low-carbon supply chain participating in carbon emission reduction,the single emission reduction model where only manufacturer participates in carbon emission reduction,and the joint emission reduction model in which the manufacturer and retailer participate in carbon emission reduction simultaneously,were established respectively.And then,the further analysis on the one-way and two-way cost-sharing contracts between manufacturer and retailer was performed.The optimal strategies and appropriate cost-sharing contract settings of the supply chain were also discussed.It is found that the introduction of cost-sharing contracts can improve the product quantity,carbon emission abatement level and supply chain members' profit.One-way cost-sharing contract is beneficial for supply chain,and two-way cost-sharing contract is also beneficial for supply chain when the cost sharing rate is within a small range.When the parameters are in a certain threshold range,the joint emission reduction model is superior to the single emission reduction model.Meanwhile,the specific cost sharing rate will affect the choice between the decentralized and centralized decision-making situations.In addition,the government can reduce more carbon emission in the supply chain by regulating carbon trading price,but attention should be paid to its impact on the production and profit of the products.Secondly,production and carbon emission reduction decisions of low-carbon supply chain under different initial carbon quota allocation mechanisms were studied.According to the cap-and-trade regulation,two different initial carbon quota allocation mechanisms,namely grandfathering and benchmarking,were discussed,and the single and dual supply chain emission reduction models were established respectively.In the single supply chain model,the influence of carbon trading price on carbon emission abatement level under two different carbon quota allocation mechanisms were analyzed,and the threshold range of initial carbon quota under different allocation mechanisms was obtained.In the dual supply chain model,considering the competition and cooperation modes of additional carbon quota between different manufacturers,the supply chain decisions under different carbon emission reduction modes were compared and analyzed,and the synergy effect between carbon trading price and initial carbon quota was further discussed.The research results suggest that the benchmarking mechanism is always superior to the grandfathering mechanism.Under the same quota allocation mechanism,the low-carbon supply chain gives priority to monopolize the market.When and only if there is a surplus of carbon quota in the competitive situation,the manufacturer in the supply chain will choose to cooperate on additional carbon quota.In addition,the government's initial carbon quota should be set in a certain range.Besides,the value of initial carbon quota and carbon trading price will affect the decision-making choice of the supply chain.Finally,combining the low-carbon supply chain and the closed-loop supply chain,the impact of reverse logistics on supply chain production and carbon emission reduction decisions was discussed.According to the cap-and-trade regulation,considering the recycling modes of the used products of different supply chain members,three different supply chain models of product collection led by third-party,retailer or manufacturer were established,respectively.Moreover,the decentralized and centralized decision-making situations were compared,and supply chain decisions under different used product collection modes were analyzed.Based on the above situations,the impact of introduction of product recycling process on carbon emission reduction and related operation decisions in the low-carbon supply chain was detailed,taking into consideration the special situation with fixed used product return rate.It is found that when the parameters meet certain conditions,the scenario where the manufacturer leads used product collection is the optimal situation for carbon emission reduction,used product collection and supply chain members' profit generation.Otherwise,the supply chain will choose retailer to recycle used products.Under the condition of fixed return rate,used product collection is beneficial for carbon emission reduction in the supply chain.In addition,a high initial carbon emission level is inconducive to carbon emission reduction and used product collection.Meanwhile,the government can influence carbon emission reduction and used product collection decisions of supply chain by adjusting carbon trading price.