Sustainable Networks

Research

How can we integrate sustainability into supply chains?

Our research line in Sustainable Networks focuses on integrating environmental sustainability into operational decision-making across the supply chain. At ZLC, we analyze how emission markets, mitigation policies, and clean technologies can transform current logistics and energy models.

We study the behavior of participants in emissions trading systems, evaluate the impact of policies on technological innovation, and explore how supply chains can adapt to become both greener and more profitable.

Our research takes a multidisciplinary approach: it combines environmental economics, operations research, and finance, to develop practical tools for companies, institutions, and public policymakers.

Main Researchers

Dr. Susana Val

Associate Research Professor of Supply Chain Management Dr. Susana Val is Associate Research Professor at MIT-Zaragoza International Logistics Program, Research...

Dr. Beatriz Royo

Associate Professor of Supply Chain Management Dr. Beatriz Royo is an Associate Professor at the MIT-Zaragoza International Logistics Program, affiliated...

Main Achievements

Sustainable Circular Economy Transition: From Industrial Symbiosis to Hubs for Circularity

Existing heavily industrialized areas are currently incapable of adopting large-scale industrial symbioses in terms of shared technology/infrastructure use, waste integration, energy and material utilization, as well as expanding through surrounding ecosystems in an inclusive manner for the society despite many of the EU's key strategic priorities in sustainable regional development. Within this context, IS2H4C proposes […]

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REshaping Supply CHAins for Positive social impact

The main objectives of ReSChape project are: To analyse social, economic and environmental changes and disruptions (including Covid) and evaluate their impact on SCs, identifying related challenges in terms of relationship between countries, configuration of the network, impact on employment. To study and propose a set of SC models for the evolution of global SC […]

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Papers

CO2 emissions in urban freight transport: Developing and testing the EcoLogistics tool

Royo, B., Zhang, Y., Lewis, A., Dehdari, P. CO2 emissions in urban freight transport: Developing and testing the EcoLogistics tool | Case Studies on Transport Policy | Vol. 20 | June 2025 | 101415

Economic Justice in the Design of Sugarcane-Derived Biofuel Supply Chain: A Fair Profit Distribution Approach

Carvajal, J., Sarache, W., Costa, Y. Economic Justice in the Design of Sugarcane-Derived Biofuel Supply Chain: A Fair Profit Distribution Approach | Logistics | Vol. 8 (4) | November, 2024 | 122

Optimizing and evaluating the performance of integrated supply production centers. A hybrid heuristic-simulation applied to olive oil waste circular supply chains

Urciuoli, L., Kougioumtzis, M.A., Karampinis, E. Optimizing and evaluating the performance of integrated supply production centers: A hybrid heuristic-simulation applied to olive oil waste circular supply chains | Journal of Cleaner Production. Vol. 480, November 2024, 144100.

The Pollution-Routing Problem with Speed Optimization and Uneven Topography

Lai, D., Costa, Y., Demir, E., Florio, A.M., Van Woensel, T. The Pollution-Routing Problem with Speed Optimization and Uneven Topography | Computers and Operations Research | Vol. 164, April 2024 | 106557

Facility Location Modeling in Supply Chain Network Design: Current State and Emerging Trends

Costa, Y., Melo, T. Facility Location Modeling in Supply Chain Network Design: Current State and Emerging Trends. In: Sarkis, J. (eds) | The Palgrave Handbook of Supply Chain Management | 2023, pp. 1-36 | Palgrave Macmillan

Enabling the circular economy of bio-supply chains employing integrated biomass logistics centers - A multi-stage approach integrating supply and production activities

Muerza, V., Urciuoli, L., Zapata Habas, S. Enabling the circular economy of bio-supply chains employing integrated biomass logistics centers - A multi-stage approach integrating supply and production activities | Journal of Cleaner production | Vol. 384 | January 2023 | 135628

A three-objective stochastic location-inventory-routing model for agricultural waste-based biofuel supply chain

A fuzzy inference based scenario building in two-stage optimization framework for sustainable recycling supply chain redesign

Feitó-Cespón, M., Costa, Y., Pishvaee, M.S., Cespón-Castro, R. | A fuzzy inference based scenario building in two-stage optimization framework for sustainable recycling supply chain redesign | Expert Systems with Applications | Vol. 165 | March,1st, 2021 | 113906

Multiobjective stochastic scheduling of upstream operations in a sustainable sugarcane supply chain

Morales, M.M., Sarache, W., Costa, Y., Soto, J. Multiobjective stochastic scheduling of upstream operations in a sustainable sugarcane supply chain.Journal of Cleaner Production | Vol. 276, December 2020 | 123305

Heuristic approaches for a two-echelon constrained joint replenishment and delivery problem

Carvajal, J., Castaño, F., Sarache, W., Costa, Y. Heuristic approaches for a two-echelon constrained joint replenishment and delivery problem. International Journal of Production Economics. Vol. 220, February 2020 | article N. 107420

Measuring and Allocating Scope 3 GHG Emissions

Royo, B. Measuring and Allocating Scope 3 GHG Emissions. Towards User-Centric Transport in Europe 2. Lecture notes in Mobility. In: Müller B., Meyer G. (eds), February 2020, pp. 200-211 | Springer

Addressing a robust decision in the sugarcane supply chain: Introduction of a new agricultural investment project in Colombia

Carvajal, J., Sarache, W., Costa, Y. Addressing a robust decision in the sugarcane supply chain: Introduction of a new agricultural investment project in Colombia. Computers and Electronics in Agriculture, Vol. 157, February 2019, pp. 77-89.