A comprehensive environment friendly approach for supplier selection

•GDEA approach for supplier selection is based on DEA with carbon footprint monitoring.•GDEA incorporates heterogeneous suppliers and regional emission compliance standards and laws.•GDEA approach encourages suppliers to cut down their carbon footprints for competitive edge.•An industry application of a well-known auto parts manufacturer in India is presented for validation.

As the green movement spreads across the globe, organizations are under pressure to reduce the emissions across their supply chain. On the other hand, they need to cut supply costs to gain a competitive edge. This paper proposes Green DEA (GDEA), a comprehensive approach based on Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) with carbon footprint monitoring. GDEA builds on an existing DEA model with weight restrictions and dual role factors, and introduces carbon footprints as necessary dual role factors with weight restrictions. Unlike other researches, GDEA incorporates heterogeneous suppliers and also takes into account regional emission compliance standards and laws. GDEA encourages suppliers to go green and cut down their carbon footprints and comply with emission norms along with reducing costs in order to survive competition. Results from model validation in a well-known automobile spare parts manufacturer in India are presented to verify the GDEA approach. Overall, GDEA cuts across a huge and varied supplier base, caters to almost all businesses, is environment-friendly and robust.