Sustainability has emerged as a central issue in today's business world. Environmental issues such as global warming, increasing waste and pollution, depleting natural resources combined with societal issues such as health, safety, equality, fairness and development put an unprecedented pressure on companies to realign their businesses while remaining profitable and competitive.
Governments around the globe take measures to shift from the traditional linear economic model based on a 'take-make-consume-throw away' pattern, to a more circular and sustainable economic model based on sharing, leasing, reuse, repair, refurbishment, and recycling, in a closed loop, where products and materials they contain are highly valued. Similarly, global warming is changing the way governments and businesses need to think about carbon emissions regarding transportation, logistics and supply chain operations. Fostering a "green image" opens new markets for many businesses while optimizing reverse logistics yields significant cost reductions. On the societal level, increased awareness about socially responsible development pushes companies and governments to design operations and supply chains by taking into consideration more direct social impacts, such as on employment, on development of local communities as well as through humanitarian and disaster relief operations. As such, a solid understanding of the sustainability discourse along the tripe bottom line (financial, social, ecological) is a fundamental prerequisite for dealing with the modern issues surrounding businesses and the stakeholders' call for a better sustainability measurement and reporting.
With its study programs and research, the KLU's mission in the field of sustainability is to prepare future business leaders who understand the impact of business on environment and society, and propel sustainable change. Our students comprehend sustainability by its three integral components of profit, environment, and society, and with an emphasis on supply chain management and logistics.
In KLU we define sustainability broadly not only to include its economic, environmental and social dimensions but also to embrace ethical issues, resilience and humanitarian aid. The research that we conduct in this wide field aims to enhance the health and well-being of the population and the ecosystems upon which we all depend.
Prof. Alan C. McKinnon, PHD, Professor of Logistics
Research Projects
Accelerating the Path Towards Physical Internet - SENSE
Blockchain for the Circular Economy
CREAToR: Collection of raw materials, Removal of flAme reTardants and Reuse of secondary raw materials
CargoSurfer
Circular Reverse Supply Chains in Automotives (Ce:VersA)
Clean Cargo Initiative – Sustainability in the cargo shipping industry
Contract-based coordination of multi-stage fresh food supply chains to reduce food waste
Country Climate and Development Report (CCDR)
DISCO - Data-driven, Integrated, Syncromodal, Collaborative and Optimized urban freight meta model for new generation of urban logistics and planning with data sharing at European Living Labs
Differentiated port infrastructure charges to promote environmentally friendly maritime transport activities and sustainable transportation
EURO HOpe mini-conferences on Humanitarian Operations
Fab City: Decentralized, Digital Production for Urban Value Creation - Subproject on "Supply Chain and Operations Management"
Feasibility study and support for missing data for maritime sector technical specifications
FoodDecide - Digital Technologies for Food Safety Decision Support
Ganzheitliche Ausweisung von Transportemissionen – GATE
How can RLH Coop and CHORD collaborate to further realize the European Commission European Civil Protection and Humanitarian Aid Operations (ECHO)’s Humanitarian Logistics Policy and its underlying paradigm shift?
Hypernetwork of German Logistics (HeGeL) - Exploiting the Potential of Hypernetworks in Freight Transport and Logistics
Impact Measurement Framework for the Réseau Logistique Humanitaire Pooling Resources Initiative
Innovative Waterway Transportation 2.0.
Internet of Food and Farm 2020
Modeling Food Supply Systems to Identify Outbreak Origins
Port Reform Toolkit (PRTK)
Preventing Shortfalls in Food Logistics
Quantitative research study on environmental sustainability in humanitarian logistics - WREC
SCO - African Center of Excellence for Sustainable Operations for Ressource Management and Food Supply
Security in Food Production and Logistics with Distributed Ledger Technology - NutriSafe
TDR³ - Time-dependent routing of regenerable resources
The Green Shipping Project Governance and Innovation for a Sustainable Maritime Supply Chain
ULePro (Urban food production) - Development and coordination of local food production and distribution networks (FabCIty)
URBANE - Upscaling innovative green urban logistics solutions through multi-actor collaboration and physical internet-inspired last mile deliveries
WASP - Wind Assisted Ship Propulsion
WORM - Waste in humanitarian Operations: Reduction and Minimisation
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