Supply Chain Emission Reduction and Pricing Decision Based on the Retailers’ Fairness Preferences

This paper introduces the retailers’ fairness preferences into the emission reduction game of the supply chain, and analyzes the supply chain emission reduction and pricing problems under carbon tax regulation in three cases; that is, the retailers have no fair preferences; the manufacturers take the retailers’ fair preferences into account; and the manufacturers do not consider the retailers’ fair preferences. The results show that product emission reduction is negatively correlated with the retailers’ fairness preferences, which means that the retailers’ fair preferences hinder product emission reduction to a certain extent. Therefore, it is necessary for the government to publicize the advantages of low-carbon products, so that the retailers can shift their focus from the fairness of profit distribution to the low-carbon feature of the products, thus reducing their fairness preferences and promoting the emission reduction of the products. If the retailers have fair preferences, the manufacturers should consider the impact of the retailers’ fairness preferences in their decision-making, which can improve the profits of both the manufacturers and retailers to achieve a win-win situation.