Research on low carbon collaborative strategy of supply chain under blockchain information-sharing mechanism

Abstract

Cooperation among companies is essential for reducing the whole-process carbon emissions of products, but the existence of asymmetric information can negatively affect the cooperation. The information-sharing framework based on blockchain technology can solve the problem and contribute to an efficient supply chain for collaborative carbon emission reduction. We obtain conditions on the optimal carbon reduction efforts of the producer and the retailer by designing a blockchain information sharing mechanism, and confirm that the optimal carbon reduction efforts are associated with consumers' low-carbon preferences. Our study shows that: (1) The blockchain-based information-sharing mechanism can improve the way that producers and retailers collaborate on carbon emission reductions and help them understand information on consumers’ low-carbon preferences to make scientific decisions. (2) Companies have to pay an information rent to ensure that consumers correctly disclose their low-carbon preferences under information asymmetry. Blockchain technology eliminates the information rent and enables the overall efficiency of the supply chain. (3) An optimal blockchain cost-sharing factor exists that maximizes the overall supply chain revenue under the mechanism.