Table 3.

The key stages to achieving a net zero supply chain.

Key step	Description	Reference
Rethink product design	Instead of just improving current procedures, returning to the drawing board and reviewing product design. Tinkering at the margins will not produce NZSCs; instead, a thorough reevaluation of manufacturing processes may be necessary.	[46]
Embrace collaboration	Supply networks are asymmetrical, with high-quality talent, and knowledge, and less developed SMEs that need assistance along the chain. To prosper, everyone must work together and share resources, technologies, investments, and knowledge.	[47]
Build the capabilities required for change.	The gaps in knowledge and skills that the transformation will reveal will affect SME suppliers the most. Training and capability development will hasten the transformation.	[48]
Support climate technologies	R&D investments must be made today, along with close industry, academia, and financial collaboration, to speed up bringing innovations to market at scale by 2050.	[49]
Structure better data development	To provide consistent, transparent, and reliable environmental, social, and widely available governance measures, platforms that can collect operational data from across the SC must be developed.	[50]
Think about policy and standards broadly	Businesses are held to constantly altering expectations by their stakeholders as a result of a historical absence of consistency in guidelines, and market efficiency, which increases cost and complexity. SCs span international borders, necessitating regulations that uphold a high yet practical common standard.	[51]
Enable financing	Banks must have access to mechanisms that allow them to collaborate and coinvest with corporations and create public‒private partnerships. This necessitates the use of proper data structures that allow for the traceability and transparency of financial resources.	[52]