Green supply chain management as a pathway to sustainable operations in the post-COVID-19 era: investigating challenges in the Chinese scenario

PurposeThe disruptive pandemic has badly affected supply chain operations across the globe and implementing green supply chain strategies is challenging for manufacturing firms, especially in emerging countries. Therefore, this study aims to identify the significant challenges hindering the green supply chain as a pathway towards sustainability in the post-COVID-19 era.Design/methodology/approachFuzzy Delphi Methodology (FDM), Interpretive structural modeling (ISM) and MICMAC were applied. FDM was applied to select the most relevant challenges and later ISM and Matrices d'Impacts cross-multiplication appliqúe a classmate MICMAC were used for modeling and classifying critical challenges.FindingsLack of trust between firms and supply chain partners, and difficulty in transforming positive environmental attitudes into action are the significant challenges to implementing green supply chain management. Lack of communication between government and Chinese firms is the least important factor which shows that the government is trying to support firms and reduce the negative effects after the drastic impacts of COVID-19. However, COVID-19 left a draconian effect on organization’s green supply chain and it’s not easy to overcome.Originality/valueNone of the previous studies applied mixed methodologies of FDM, ISM and MICMAC to evaluate Green supply chain as a pathway to sustainable operations in the post-COVID-19 era. Challenging factors of green supply chain operations in COVID-19 are different from earlier studies and contribute to the literature of emerging countries.