Breakthrough review highlights roadmap for greener cold chain logistics

Researchers have unveiled a comprehensive roadmap to help the global cold chain logistics industry cut carbon emissions, supporting climate goals and sustainability without sacrificing efficiency. The new study, published in Carbon Research, critically reviews the latest strategies, algorithms, and models for optimizing supply chains that rely on refrigeration and temperature control, from farm to pharmacy to home.

The Hidden Carbon Cost Behind Your Groceries

Cold chain logistics ensures products like fresh food, medicine, and vaccines reach consumers in optimal condition, but this essential service comes with an often-overlooked environmental cost. According to the study, refrigerated transport alone accounts for more than 80 percent of carbon emissions in cold chain logistics. With the industry predicted to keep expanding rapidly alongside growing demand for perishable goods, reducing its climate impact is a pressing challenge.

Balancing Efficiency and Sustainability

The research team conducted a sweeping analysis of the technical advances driving green transformation in cold supply chains. Scientists evaluated not only how well different optimization and simulation models reduce costs and emissions, but also how they perform under real-world complexities. They found that while many paths toward carbon reduction are being explored, the biggest savings typically come from optimizing routes, selecting distribution sites strategically, and applying the right optimization algorithms for each scenario.

Single-objective methods often focus on minimizing total financial cost, but multi-objective approaches combine economic and environmental goals, sometimes creating trade-offs between them. Genetic algorithms and ant colony optimization emerged as the workhorses for solving these complex planning problems, making it possible to simulate and improve large-scale logistics networks more quickly and accurately than before. Future breakthroughs will likely come from multi-objective algorithms that balance emissions, cost, and customer satisfaction all at once.

From Theory to Real-World Impact

Despite the scientific progress, the review points out key challenges that must be overcome before green solutions can be fully realized. Simulation models must become more accurate and dynamic, capable of adapting to on-the-ground realities like unpredictable weather, evolving energy technologies, and new vehicle types such as electric trucks. Measuring and calibrating real carbon emissions remains a major hurdle, as does putting optimal solutions into practice due to financial concerns or regulatory barriers.

The study also stresses that current models often overlook critical trends such as the rise of air and water transportation or the expansion of cold chains in emerging markets. Addressing these factors will be vital for building future-ready, sustainable systems that are robust in the face of uncertainty and change.

Promising Opportunities Ahead

The review offers a hopeful outlook, predicting that advances in artificial intelligence, machine learning, and the internet of things will deliver powerful new tools for the industry. Technologies like blockchain, satellite tracking, and autonomous vehicles are expected to further cut emissions and improve system accuracy. As public concern about carbon emissions grows, research on sustainable cold logistics has never been more urgent.

The authors call for collaboration between researchers, industry, and policymakers to close the gap between theory and practice. With concerted effort, cold chain logistics can support modern life while still protecting the climate and promoting economic vitality.

This research sets the stage for industry leaders to embrace smarter, greener logistics, ensuring that tomorrow’s food and medicine arrive safely—without fueling climate change.

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Journal reference:  Li, F., Tao, J., Wang, Q. et al. Simulation and optimization of cold chain logistics system towards lower carbon emission: a state-of-the-art review. Carbon Res. 4, 22 (2025).

https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s44246-024-00191-4

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About Carbon Research

The journal Carbon Research is an international multidisciplinary platform for communicating advances in fundamental and applied research on natural and engineered carbonaceous materials that are associated with ecological and environmental functions, energy generation, and global change. It is a fully Open Access (OA) journal and the Article Publishing Charges (APC) are waived until Dec 31, 2025. It is dedicated to serving as an innovative, efficient and professional platform for researchers in the field of carbon functions around the world to deliver findings from this rapidly expanding field of science. The journal is currently indexed by Scopus and Ei Compendex, and as of June 2025, the dynamic CiteScore value is 15.4.

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