Emission Reduction Decisions in the Agricultural Supply Chain Considering Dual Fairness Concerns

The challenges in reducing emissions within agricultural supply chains mainly arise from the short-term self-interested behaviors of various stakeholders. To study the impact of the agricultural producer’s dual fairness concerns toward the manufacturer and retailer on profit distribution and emission reduction decisions, this paper develops a centralized model and two decentralized models (with and without dual fairness concerns) for a three-level agricultural supply chain. The paper derives the optimal emission reduction decisions, participant profits, and overall supply chain profits under different decision-making scenarios. The main findings are as follows: First, the centralized model results in higher supply chain profit, emission reduction, and market demand compared to decentralized models, where these factors remain unchanged regardless of fairness concerns. Second, in decentralized decision-making, fairness concerns raise the agricultural producer’s profit while reducing those of the manufacturer and retailer. The manufacturer always earns the highest profit, followed by the retailer. Finally, the agricultural producer’s fairness concerns do not affect emission reduction or overall profit, but they change profit distribution, with increasing concern toward one participant decreasing their profit and increasing the other’s. These findings fill the theoretical gap in existing research and provide valuable theoretical insights for governments and stakeholders in making decisions.