“Green” Supply Chains: Using Information Integration for Sustainable Development

The current development of global economies and societies is regarded as being highly unsustainable. This paper analyses the current situation. Instead of simplistic metrics that take only snapshots of the life-cycle of a product into consideration, an approach is introduced that covers the whole supply chain. The core idea is that end-to-end transparency, specific data models, a process architecture, modern data management and analysis techniques are the key to make informed decisions, optimisations and to execute international policies. The particular role of ICT in such a future economy is discussed.