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cheah-huang-2021-comparative-carbon-footprint-assessment-of-cross-border-e-commerce-shipping-options2.09 MB
Published VersionCC BY-NC V4.0, Open Access
Journal article
Comparative Carbon Footprint Assessment of Cross-Border E-Commerce Shipping Options
Transportation Research Record, Vol.2676(1), pp.584-595
2022
Abstract
In the bid to stay competitive, online shopping platforms often offer a variety of shipping options to meet the preferences of consumers. While faster delivery might be desirable for consumers, this may be detrimental to the environment. Limited studies have evaluated the comparative environmental impact of different shipping options offered by e-commerce platforms. To fill this gap, this study aims to conduct a comparative carbon footprint assessment of the shipping options available in Taobao, a highly popular Chinese online shopping website. The case of cross-border e-commerce is evaluated, where goods are ordered from China to Singapore as the shipment destination. Thereafter, a shipping choice preference survey is conducted to evaluate the impact of carbon labelling on consumers' shipping preferences. From the perspective of the consumer, when offered a variety of shipping options to choose from, there is always a trade-off between the cost and the speed of delivery. Additional information on the carbon impact of different options could influence consumers' decision-making. The shipping options from Taobao are referenced to determine the cost, speed, and carbon emission values for the scenarios presented in the survey. Out of 188 survey respondents, slightly more than half (55%) were found to be willing to compromise the speed of delivery for a less carbon-intensive alternative. Given this finding, the study advocates for carbon labelling to be introduced for e-commerce shipping options.
Details
- Title
- Comparative Carbon Footprint Assessment of Cross-Border E-Commerce Shipping Options
- Authors
- Lynette Cheah (Corresponding Author) - Singapore University of Technology and DesignQiuhong Huang - Singapore University of Technology and Design
- Publication details
- Transportation Research Record, Vol.2676(1), pp.584-595
- Publisher
- Sage Publications, Inc.
- Date published
- 2022
- DOI
- 10.1177/03611981211037249
- ISSN
- 2169-4052; 0361-1981
- Copyright note
- © National Academy of Sciences: Transportation Research Board 2021. This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/) which permits non-commercial use, reproduction and distribution of the work without further permission provided the original work is attributed as specified on the SAGE and Open Access pages (https://us.sagepub.com/en-us/nam/open-access-at-sage).
- Organisation Unit
- School of Science, Technology and Engineering
- Language
- English
- Record Identifier
- 991029280502621
- Output Type
- Journal article
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- Web Of Science research areas
- Engineering, Civil
- Transportation
- Transportation Science & Technology