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Rethinking the global
We are all part of a global
economy, capable of
producing and transporting
seemingly anything, from
anywhere, to anyone. Its life-
blood is an interconnected network of
suppliers and producers, retailers and
consumers, spanning the planet. But
the public typically knows far more
about Apple, Nike, and other brands
than the logistics empires many tiers
below, where firms such as Foxconn
and Pou Chen connect vast underlying
commodity and labor markets that
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sciencemag.org SCIENCE1100 6 JUNE 2014 • VOL 344 ISSUE 6188
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supply chain
are relatively hidden from the public
eye. This sprawling web of supply
chains can raise living standards,
improve conditions for workers, and
help alleviate poverty. But feeding its
unquenchable thirst for energy, water,
and other resources puts a strain on
the planet. Finding ways to relieve
that strain is an enormous challenge
and will undoubtedly require greater
traceability and transparency.
One step forward is providing better
measurements and models and making
efforts to standardize and coordinate
How traceability, measurement, and standardization might tame an unwieldy web
by Brad Wible, Jeffrey Mervis, Nicholas S. Wigginton
S P E C I A L S E C T I O N
6 JUNE 2014 • VOL 344 ISSUE 6188 1101SCIENCE sciencemag.org
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sciencemag.org SCIENCE1102 6 JUNE 2014 • VOL 344 ISSUE 6188
SPECIAL SECTION RETHINKING THE GLOBAL SUPPLY CHAIN
their use. Researchers are intensely studying
how to account for supply-chain demands on
ecosystems by integrating carbon, water, energy,
and other “footprints” into coordinated schemes
(see Hoekstra and Wiedmann, p. 1114). They are
also developing better ways to inventory mate-
rial and energy inputs, from the conception of
a product to its grave, via life-cycle assessment
tools (see Hellweg and Milà i Canals, p. 1109).
Yet academic insights alone cannot solve
these problems. The large-scale cooperation of
industry is essential. Many
companies and industries
are seeking to improve how
they collect, synthesize,
standardize, and commu-
nicate supply-chain data to
better inform decision-making (see O’Rourke,
p. 1124). A study of the Brazilian Amazon
shows how supply-chain initiatives in the beef
and soy industries, interacting with economic,
social, and policy drivers, can slow deforesta-
tion of one of the world’s major sources of
biodiversity and carbon sequestration (see
Nepstad et al., p. 1118).
Logistics and transportation are also ripe
for improvement. One approach is drawing
inspiration from the digital Internet to create
a Physical Internet. The initiative envisions
using standardized “packets” and protocols for
shipping, and forging the types of industry-wide
partnerships that are normally anathema to a
free-market system, but perhaps necessary to
reduce the congestion, pollution, and ineffi-
ciency that make the current system ultimately
unsustainable (see Mervis, p. 1104). Although
many companies may initially be motivated by
improved efficiencies and profit margins, such
improvements in supply chains hold out the
hope of improving conditions for humanity
(see Dooley, p. 1108).
NEWS
The information highway gets physical p. 1104
OPINION
The whole chain p. 1108
REVIEWS
Emerging approaches, challenges and opportunities in life cycle assessment p. 1109
Humanity’s unsustainable environmental footprint p. 1114
Slowing Amazon deforestation through public policy and interventions in beef and soy supply chains p. 1118
The science of sustainable supply chains p. 1124
INSIDE
Podcast at www.sciencemag.org/special/supply
ONLINE
PHOTO: © RALPH D. FRESO/REUTERS/CORBIS
Ports like Hong Kong (previous page) and warehouses
like Amazon’s feed global supply chains, but their social
and environmental costs are largely hidden.
Published by AAAS
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SCIENCE sciencemag.org 6 JUNE 2014 • VOL 344 ISSUE 6188 1103
Published by AAAS
on August 14, 2020
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ag.org/D
ownloaded from
Rethinking the global supply chainBrad Wible, Jeffrey Mervis and Nicholas S. Wigginton
DOI: 10.1126/science.344.6188.1100 (6188), 1100-1103.344Science
ARTICLE TOOLS http://science.sciencemag.org/content/344/6188/1100
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