Keywords: green logistics, logistics strategy, sustainable development
1. The definition of green logistics
Green logistics is a new concept put forward in the mid-1990s, and there is no unified definition at present. Some foreign scholars have different descriptions of the concept of green logistics.
H﹒J﹒Wu and S﹒Dunn believe that green logistics is an environmentally responsible logistics system, which includes not only the greening of the forward logistics process from the acquisition of raw materials, the production, packaging, transportation, storage and delivery of products to the end users, but also the reverse logistics of waste recovery and treatment. Jean-Paul Rodrigue and Brian Slack Claude Comtois believe that green logistics is a kind of logistics system that is harmonious with the environment and is environmentally friendly and effective. According to Bjorn ·n﹒petersen· Paler Peterson's Green Logistics published in Denmark, green logistics is the ecological management of forward logistics and reverse logistics.
From the definitions of different foreign scholars, we can see that green logistics is actually a concept with rich connotation and extensive extension, and all the means, methods and processes aimed at reducing the ecological environment impact of logistics process belong to the category of green logistics. In the "Logistics Terminology" (GB/T18354-200 1) published in 2000/year in China, the definition of green logistics is to purify the logistics environment and make full use of logistics resources while restraining the harm caused by logistics to the environment. Under the guidance of the principle of sustainable development, according to the connotation of modern logistics, the definition of "green logistics" is given here: green logistics refers to the process of planning, controlling, managing and implementing the logistics system with the goal of reducing pollutant discharge and resource consumption through advanced logistics technology and environmental management concept.
2. The connotation of the concept of green logistics
Although the above definition of green logistics is expressed differently, its essence and connotation are basically similar, which can be analyzed from the following aspects: the ultimate goal of green logistics is sustainable development. The similarity of the above definitions is that green logistics is eco-friendly logistics, also known as eco-logistics. Its fundamental purpose is to reduce resource consumption and waste discharge; This purpose is essentially the unity of economic interests, social interests and environmental interests; This is also the goal of sustainable development. Therefore, green logistics can be called sustainable logistics.
The activities of green logistics cover the whole life cycle of products. The whole life cycle of products from raw material acquisition to use and consumption to scrapping will have an impact on the environment. Green logistics includes not only the greening of the forward logistics process from the acquisition of raw materials, production, packaging, transportation, distribution and delivery to the end users, but also the ecological management and planning of the reverse logistics process of return and waste recovery. Therefore, its activities include the whole life cycle of products from production to scrapping.
The main participants of green logistics include the public, the government and all members of the supply chain. Due to the cross-regional and cross-industry characteristics of logistics, the implementation of green logistics can not be completed by a certain enterprise or a certain region; Nor can it be realized on its own initiative only by the morality and responsibility of enterprises. It needs the support of government regulations and policies. The public is the ultimate victim of environmental pollution. Public awareness of environmental protection can promote the implementation of green logistics strategy and play a supervisory role in the implementation of green logistics. Therefore, it is also an indispensable behavior subject of green logistics.
Second, the development status and problems of green logistics in China.
1. Development Status of Green Logistics in China
First, the government promotes the concept of green logistics. China is in a period of rapid national economic growth. On the one hand, China is faced with the development task of improving social productivity, enhancing comprehensive national strength and improving people's living standards; On the other hand, it faces quite severe environmental problems and difficulties. For a long time, due to the low technical level and the growth mode of extensive economic, the efficiency of resource utilization is low and the intensity of resource development is increasing. At the same time, the sustained growth of population and people's growing material and cultural needs have caused great pressure on economic construction, resources and environment. Therefore, the government of China has put forward the strategy of sustainable development as our basic national policy. Under the guidance of the overall national strategy, local governments at all levels put forward specific plans to implement green projects, which promoted enterprises to implement relevant green management strategies.
Secondly, the status quo of enterprises implementing green logistics. Under the guidance of the national sustainable development principle, many enterprises' social responsibility consciousness has begun to take shape. Many enterprises have a sense of environmental protection and regard the production of green products as the purpose of business operation and the magic weapon of competition; Some enterprises have implemented cleaner production according to environmental standards. For example, Haier Group has established an environmental management system and obtained ISO 1400 1 standard certification. The awareness of green product production and green consumption has been widely recognized by enterprises and the public. 2. Problems in the implementation of green logistics in China
In China, although green logistics has gradually attracted widespread attention and is regarded as one of the future development trends of China's logistics industry, there is a big gap in the concept, policy and technology of green logistics compared with international advanced countries. Narrowing and eliminating these gaps is the first problem to be solved in fully implementing the green logistics management strategy. These gaps are reflected in three aspects:
The first is the conceptual gap. The important role of modern logistics in economy has been recognized by governments at all levels, but the concept of green logistics has not been fully established. In foreign countries, the concept of green management and green consumption is still very weak, and there is almost no concept of green logistics. Green logistics is a green channel between green products and green consumption, which must be paid enough attention by the government and enterprises. Therefore, while attaching importance to the development of logistics, we must realize that green logistics is an important part of the strategy of sustainable economic development and the ultimate goal of modern logistics development.
The second is the policy gap. Under the guidance of green logistics policy, some governments in developed countries have formulated relevant policies and regulations, such as controlling pollution sources, giving tax incentives for the use of clean fuels, limiting traffic volume, controlling traffic flow, etc. It also stipulates the recycling of logistics packaging waste and product waste. Since the 1990s, China has been committed to policies and regulations on environmental pollution, but there are not many regulations for the logistics industry. At present, some big cities have begun to restrict the travel time and route of heavily polluted trucks. But generally speaking, China still lacks relevant policies and regulations, and lacks the ability to carry out mandatory environmental management on the existing logistics system.
The third is the technology gap. The implementation of green logistics depends not only on the establishment of green logistics concept and the formulation of policies, but also on the support of green technology. Compared with developed countries, China's logistics technology is far from the green requirements. For example, in the planning of logistics system, there is a lack of overall unified planning; In logistics equipment, the technical level of labor-saving cleaning equipment needs to be further improved; There is also a big gap between the disposal of packaging materials and packaging methods and the reusability and degradability advocated by green logistics. In addition, the limitation of information technology and information system functions will also lead to circuitous and unreasonable logistics paths.
Third, the sustainable development strategy of green logistics in China
The sustainable development of population, resources, environment, science and technology education plays an important guiding role in the study of green logistics strategy and strategy.
1. Resource Strategy-Circular Logistics
According to the resource view of sustainable development, resource conservation should be implemented in the development and utilization of resources, emphasizing the replacement of primary resources with renewable resources and relatively abundant resources, rather than relatively scarce resources; Through product maintenance and repair, improve the utilization rate of resources, prolong the service life of products and slow down the consumption rate of resources; Through the new logistics mode, reduce the energy consumption in the logistics process. Under the guidance of the resource strategy view of sustainable development, the recovery, reuse and recycling of waste will become the legal obligation of enterprises. The following are some specific strategies of circular logistics: ① reducing resources in the process of forward logistics; ② Reverse logistics; ③ Waste logistics.
2. Environmental strategy-sustainable development of green supply chain
In the whole stage from raw material supply to product production, packaging, transportation, distribution and use, the pollutant discharge to natural resources is the least, and the impact on urban traffic environment is the least.
With the enhancement of environmental awareness, consumers not only pursue green products and their packaging, but also demand environmental friendliness in the process of product acquisition and use. Therefore, enterprises must take environmental issues as an important decision-making variable and transform the whole supply chain to meet the environmental requirements of sustainable development and realize the greening of the whole supply chain.
The strategies of implementing green supply chain mainly include: ① environmental performance evaluation and management of suppliers; ② Introducing environmental accounting audit; ③ Using the third party logistics to realize the green management of logistics packaging and transportation; ④ Redesign of enterprise logistics system oriented to environment.
3. Science and Technology Strategy-Green Logistics Technology
The implementation of green logistics also needs scientific and technological progress, which plays an important role in the implementation of green logistics strategy: ① the progress of resource recovery technology determines the ways and means of recycling waste materials, so it is one of the influencing factors for enterprises to design reverse logistics channels; (2) New energy-saving technologies, clean energy, environmentally-friendly vehicles and other technologies are conducive to improving energy consumption and waste gas pollution in the logistics process, and are one of the influencing factors in the decision-making of equipment and tools in the green logistics system; ③ Logistics information system based on modern information technology such as CPS, CIS and network technology. It is conducive to the rational planning and efficiency improvement of logistics system, especially to the formulation of the best transportation route, the realization of the enjoyment of logistics resources, the reduction of invalid logistics volume, and further reduction of energy consumption and pollutant emissions.
4. Employee education strategy-the concept of green logistics
According to the concept of population strategy and sustainable development education, improving the quality of the population includes not only improving the scientific education level and innovation ability of the population, but also strengthening the publicity and education of sustainable development ethics and raising the public's awareness of environment and resources. In line with this strategy, the green logistics strategy should also include publicizing the environmental awareness of the public, consumers and employees, establishing an incentive mechanism for employees' environmental performance, and cultivating the green culture of enterprises.