Why are Sustainable Warehouses Imperative to Green Supply chains in India? A Comprehensive Outlook of Present Status and Initiatives

Abstract

Population, production, and consumption are experiencing an ever-increasing clash with environmental, economic, and social difficulties as India quickly progresses towards overtaking China as the world's fifth-largest economy in terms of GDP and already surpasses China of sheer numbers. The nation's warehousing industry is seeing unprecedented expansion due to the ever-increasing demand from this vast populace, which, in contrast to other countries, is statistically superior in the median age of the below-30 age group and their consumption needs across sectors. Also, this sizable population is gravitating more and more towards buying goods and services from suppliers who make a point of publicizing their sustainability activities in storing these goods in light of the mounting damage that people are inflicting on the health of the earth. The widespread use of social media and its built-in advertising capabilities continue to play a significant but growing role in communicating these benefits to the general public. In addition to relying largely on road transport, India's logistics environment is seeing a proliferation of warehouses to support distribution, value-added services, and storage. Even though transportation contributes mainly to the carbon footprint of logistics, warehouses are a significant source of greenhouse gases (GHGs) and score well on the sustainability index (SI). Compared to innovations used to reduce emissions in the transportation vertical, green warehousing projects are still in their infancy. As a result, this study analyses the existing situation and sketches out the roadmap required to take advantage of the opportunity to reduce emissions in the Indian warehousing sector while steadfastly retaining economic viability.