Purpose: Greenhouse gases, such as CO2, are heating up the planet and causing sea levels to rise, and the logistics industry, although vital for contemporary society, it is also a main contributor to the problem. Shippers and logistics service providers (LSPs=) can reduce their emissions by implementing green logistics practices, but these actors also need keep a close eye on costs. The purpose of this paper is to analyse the impact of different green logistics practices on logistics emissions and cost efficiency.

Methodology: The paper is based on survey, with responses from 169 shippers and 162 LSPs in Sweden. Commonly used methods such as correlation-, principal component- and multiple regression analyses have been employed.

Findings: The findings reveal that some types of green logistics practices are strongly associated with reduced emissions, whereas others have less of an impact. Moreover, the results provide no evidence of a trade-off situation, i.e. a situation where green logistics practices would reduce emission while increasing costs.

Research limitations/implications: This paper contributes to the discussion on green logistics practices, and particularly on whether going green is costing more. This paper is based on self-reported emissions and cost-efficiency. It is recommended that future studies look at real emission data that may be available from companies’ annual reports.

Practical and Social implications: The findings provide insights to practitioners and policymakers who are seeking to reduce emissions from logistics. While it may be too optimistic to assume that cost efficiency will improve while becoming greener, there seems to be economic down-side to investing in green practices either.

Originality: Research is thus needed to simultaneously assess the relative impact of different green logistics practices on both emissions and on cost efficiency in logistics. This paper aims to fill this gap