Extending Energy Management Towards Suppliers—An Analysis of Drivers, Barriers and Selection Criteria

Energy management (EnM) is crucial for reducing GHG emissions, but there is still a large potential to improve the energy efficiency of manufacturing companies. One approach that could be leveraged is to reduce Scope 3 emissions by extending EnM towards suppliers and integrating it into supply chain management (SCM); however, research linking these perspectives remains limited. This paper aims to investigate drivers and barriers associated with extending EnM towards suppliers and how EnM practices are considered in supplier selection. Based on a nationwide online survey sent to Swedish manufacturing companies, this paper provides new insights for practitioners and policymakers to develop strategies to integrate EnM into SCM, contributing to closing the energy efficiency gap. The results show that organizational and economic drivers and barriers related to prioritization and structure are individually perceived as most important for extending EnM towards suppliers, but supply chain-related factors play an important role when factor groups are considered. Further, the study highlights that economic criteria are still perceived as more important than energy-related criteria when it comes to supplier selection, which is initially conceptualized as a potential supply chain EnM gap.