As the public becomes more aware of environmental issues and global warming, we can expect consumers to ask more questions about the products they are buying such as how green their manufacturing processes and supply chain are, their carbon footprint and how they recycle. In the case of most companies, the supply chain represents 75% of the firm’s carbon footprint, so the role of supply chain practitioners in understanding carbon impacts, calculating and modeling carbon usage strategies, improving operations and reducing carbon utilization is paramount to achieve sustainability success.

Some companies have seen that this not a bad thing and have been able to convert the public’s interest in all things green into increased profits. A number of companies have shown that there is a proof of the link between improved environmental performance and financial gains. Companies have looked to their supply chain and seen areas where improvements in the way they operate can produce profits.

Most people don’t expect much in the way of environmental awareness from their beer company, but that hasn’t stopped Anheuser-Busch from delivering. In his landmark text “Natural Capitalism”, author Paul Hawken shines light on the fact that Busch now saves 21 million pounds of metal per year by trimming an eighth of an inch off the diameter of its beer cans. The best news for beer enthusiasts? “The trimming doesn’t reduce the volume of beer one bit”, says Hawken.

In the next several years you will be hearing more about Supply Chain Sustainability or the Green Sustainable Supply Chain. A Green Sustainable Supply Chain can be defined as "the process of using environmentally friendly inputs and transforming these inputs through change agents - whose byproducts can improve or be recycled within the existing environment. This process develops outputs that can be reclaimed and re-used at the end of their life-cycle thus, creating a sustainable supply chain." The whole idea of a sustainable supply chain is to reduce costs while helping the environment.

Despite the public’s focus on the environment, benefits attributed to reducing a company’s environmental impact are not in the forefront of supply chain executive’s minds. Many people would argue that being environmentally friendly increases your costs. It appears that many executives are still unaware that improved environmental performance means lower waste-disposal and training costs, fewer environmental-permitting fees, and, often, reduced materials costs. Companies can find cost savings by reducing the environmental impact of their business processes. By reevaluating the company's supply chain, from purchasing, planning, and managing the use of materials to shipping and distributing final products, savings are often identified as a benefit of implementing green policies.

Hopefully the interest in green issues and environmental concern by the public will not wane as economic issues become more important due to the faltering economy.

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