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To realize green supply chain management in the sweeteners industry, it is necessary to carry out low-carbon, recycling and sustainable transformation of the whole chain from raw material procurement, production process, logistics and transportation, waste treatment to end consumption. The following are the specific implementation paths and key points: 

Upstream: green raw material procurement and supplier management 

Sustainable agricultural practices 

Prioritize the procurement of raw materials from sustainable cultivation (e.g. stevia, corn starch, etc.), and require suppliers to provide organic certification or proof of low-carbon cultivation (e.g. reducing the use of pesticides/fertilizers and protecting biodiversity).

Promote the “contract farming” model by signing long-term agreements with farmers and providing technical training to optimize farming efficiency and reduce environmental footprint.

Supplier Assessment and Collaboration 

Establish a supplier ESG (Environmental, Social and Governance) scoring system, and incorporate carbon emissions, water utilization and other indicators into procurement criteria.

For highly polluting segments (e.g., precursor production of chemically synthesized sweeteners), require suppliers to adopt clean technologies (e.g., enzyme-catalyzed replacement of traditional chemical synthesis).

Second, production links: clean technology and resource recycling 

Low-carbon production processes 

Adopt green technologies such as bio-fermentation and membrane separation to replace energy-intensive processes (e.g. traditional chemical synthesis of aspartame).

Promote waste heat recovery and solar/biomass energy to replace fossil energy to achieve carbon neutral target in the production chain.

Water and Waste Management 

Establish closed-loop water treatment system to reduce wastewater discharge; anaerobic fermentation of highly concentrated organic wastewater to produce biogas.

By-product resource utilization (e.g. plant residues from stevioside production are used for organic fertilizer or biofuel).

III. Logistics and Packaging: Reduction and Decarbonization 

Green Transportation Network 

Optimize logistics routes, giving preference to rail or sea transport as an alternative to road transport; pilot hydrogen or electric trucks for short-distance distribution.

Establish regionalized storage centers to reduce the need for long-distance transportation.

Environmentally friendly packaging design 

Use biodegradable materials (e.g. PLA) or lightweight packaging; promote the “large packaging + consumer packaging” model to reduce the use of plastic.

Cooperate with downstream customers to establish a packaging recycling system (e.g. deposit return system).

Downstream Cooperation and Consumer Education 

Customer Collaboration for Carbon Reduction 

Provide low-carbon sweetener solutions for food and beverage customers, helping them optimize their formulations to reduce usage (e.g., sucralose's high sweetness characteristics can reduce transportation energy consumption).

Enhance supply chain transparency by tracing the carbon footprint of products through blockchain technology.

Consumer guidance 

Enhance the price premium of environmentally friendly products by labeling them with “green sweetener” certifications (e.g. Carbon Trust certification).

Conduct popularization campaigns to correct the cognitive bias that natural sweeteners must be more environmentally friendly than synthetics (with full life cycle assessment data).

V. Digitalization and Policy Synergy 

Technology Enablement 

Use IoT to monitor energy consumption data of each link in the supply chain and optimize resource scheduling through AI.

Develop LCA (Life Cycle Assessment) tools to quantify the environmental impact of different sweeteners and guide decision-making.

Policy and Industry Standards 

Actively participate in the development of green standards for the sweetener industry (e.g. ISO 14067 carbon footprint standard).

Seek government subsidies or tax incentives to support green technology R&D (e.g. cell culture method for sweetener production).