Will environmental logistics be promoted by changing industrial structure? A quantitative analysis from 1978 to 2007 in China

Purpose – With the function of reconstructing and promoting traditional industries in China, logistic service industry (LSI) still consumes a great deal of energy. The purpose of this paper is to empirically analyse the relationship between energy consumption of logistics and its influential factors in China, and through this, identify the most important factor and give a significant research of this factor afterwards.Design/methodology/approach – Using a quantitative analysis of the industry composition of energy consumption and the structure of energy consumption in LSI, the serious condition of China's energy conservation of LSI was found. Correlated analysis and co‐integration analysis were adopted to identify how these factors affected the energy conservation of LSI and how to construct environmental logistics in China.Findings – The paper found mileage traveled by train is the most important factor of energy consumption in LSI, while traveling miles of highway is the second. The former was negative ...