Challenges and opportunities of green logistics in Hungary. An exploratory research

In today's competitive scenario, companies are increasingly asked to implement measures and programs to reduce the environmental footprint of their activities in the supply chain (Zhu et al., 2008). Generally transport and logistics activities provide a number of positive effects at both country and company levels, but due to a number of factors, such activities have a relevant negative impact on the environment mainly (but not exclusively) in terms of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. In fact, transport and logistics activities are the second biggest contributor to GHG emissions after electricity production (EC, 2017). This trend will continue over the next years due to the increasing demand for moving goods that is expected to grow further in the near future (ITF-OECD, 2013). As a result, environmental sustainability is an expected dimension of the logistics service providers (3PLs). With other words, 3PLs are requested that their operations and strategies should be oriented to reduce the negative externalities for the environment (Lieb and Lieb, 2010b). From the research point of view, while the number of studies on environmental issues in logistics and supply chain management have increased substantially over the last decades, relatively little attention has been paid to the logistics service industry (Lin and Ho, 2011; Lieb and Lieb, 2010b). Moreover, although the environmental sustainability in the freight transport and logistics sector is a matter of common concern at global level, in some geographical areas this topic has been investigated less than others have. This is particularly true for Eastern Europe, since there are only a few relevant articles available if any, in Poland, Czech Republic, Slovakia and Slovenia (Lorincova and Balazova, 2014; Klapalova, 2012; Klopott and Miklinska, 2017; Bajec,P., et. al 2015). Hungary is not an exception, despite the relevant role that this country plays in the European transport and logistics scenario (Skowron-Grabowska, 2009; Chan, 2014). The total freight traffic activities in Hungary are estimated around 287 million tons in 2017, which shows 5.1% yearly increase. In 2017, the share of road freight transport from the Hungarian modal split was 65%, rail transport 19%, pipelines 12%, inland waterways 3.3% (KSH, 2018) and the remaining 0.7 % was airfreight. In 2016, the number of transported International Transport Units (ITUs) was 376 thousand (9.3% more than in the previous year) (KSH, 2016). In December 2016, 1.8 million companies operated in the Hungarian economy in total, and 37.4 thousand operated in the transport and storage services sector (including postal and courier activities). Within the Hungarian transport and storage service sector, 73% of the companies employed from 1 to 9 people, 5.1% of companies employed from 10 to 49 people and only 1.1% of the companies employed more than 50 people. In 2016, the transport and storage services sector employed 190 thousand people full time, which is 7.1% of the total workforce. (KSH, 2016). In Hungary, the total amount of CO2 emitted by transport and logistics activities were 63,5 million tons in 2015. (KSH, 2018) The transport and storage service industry accounts for 4,973 thousand tons of CO2, which is almost 8% of the total CO2 emissions at national level. (KSH, 2018). Despite the importance of the Hungarian 3PL market in the European scenario, there are no researches on the environmental sustainability practices of Hungarian 3PLs. Considering this gap, it is possible to define the following two research questions for this study: oRQ1) what type of green initiatives are adopted by Hungarian 3PLs? oRQ2) what are the main factors (both barriers and drivers) affecting the adoption of green initiatives by Hungarian3PLs? The main obje