Sustainable supply chain management (SSCM) has become imperative in the face of global environmental challenges, resource scarcity, and regulatory pressures. This paper presents an integrated operations research (OR) framework to optimize supply chain networks while balancing economic, environmental, and social objectives. We review recent literature on OR applications in SSCM, propose a mathematical optimization model for a multi-echelon supply chain incorporating sustainability metrics, and discuss hypothetical results based on scenario analysis. The model minimizes total costs including carbon emissions and social impacts, subject to capacity, demand, and sustainability constraints. Findings suggest that integrated OR approaches can reduce environmental footprints by up to 25% without significant economic trade-offs. This study contributes to the field by providing a practical model and identifying avenues for future research in stochastic and dynamic environments.
Sushil Kumar (2026) studied this question.