Green Logistic Practices: A Theoretical Approach of the Theme

Abstract

This study aims to identify the main practices of green logistic considered in national and international academic literature. Using standard techniques for selection of previous studies, this study firts presents the definition of green logistic term in order to differentiate it from other concepts commonly treated similarly, as circular economy, the green chain management (GSCM), the reverse logistics and the environmental certifications (ISO 14001), to obtain clarity about their delimitations, scopes and depth. The study also organizes a taxonomy that involves different functional areas of the company, giving direction to the sustainable conduct, resulting in nine components of green logistic that serve as subsidy for the classification of the identified practices. Based on this conceptual definition and taxonomy, lists 112 practices of green logistic, among which 85 are enterprise ambit, 24 governmental and 3 towards consumers. Regarding the quantity of identified practices and the number of citations, both in business sphere as well as in governmental, the most representative part is related to green  Among the most cited practices are the search by more efficient deliveries, using intermodal and multimodal transport that are less polluting and the programming and optimization of flows deliveries. The survey also revealed that although the concept of green logistics is consolidated in the literature, the majority of studies, especially the empirical, concentrates on some of its components, in particular transport and reverse logistic.