What is meant by green supply chain?

Answer 1

Going green once a term that referenced fringe environmental groups is finding new life among firms when it comes to transportation. Initially it was assumed going green would mean increased costs. However it appears that is not the case. Shippers under pressure to reduce emissions have found innovative ways to do so while at the same time reducing costs.
Reducing fuel consumption has a positive impact on reducing carbon emissions. Clearly since the oil price spike of 2008 there is increased and continuing interest in reducing consumption.

In addition firms are looking for ways to reduce the volume of waste / excess packaging. Not only from a design and damage tolerance perspective but also from a marketing practice that sees bigger is better and the accompanying efforts to use bigger packages to increase sales. Less and lighter packaging can reduce costs and reduce waste.

Companies are also doing more to maximize both load wight and volume--avoid shipping air or empty space. Lastly firms are thinking about the amount of water they ship and looking for ways to delay adding water back in closer to final consumption (regional bottling companies) and to reduce the amount of water in a product (reducing the water in liquid detergents. There are numerous other green efforts from long life and more energy efficient light bulbs to hybrid (clean fuel) tractors.