Supply chain decision-making and coordination for joint investment in cost and carbon emission reduction

In the era of low-carbon economy, it is an important measure for enterprises to respond to changes in the external environment by actively investing in various low-carbon technologies to reduce their carbon emissions. However, in real life, simply focusing on one kind of technology investment may not be able to perfectly achieve the established goals of enterprises, and more often, enterprises will adapt a strategy of multiple technology investment. Therefore, in view of this practical activity, this paper considers that manufacturers invest in two innovative activities: reducing production costs and improving emission reduction. The results of this study show that the increase in the carbon trading price will stimulate the motivation of enterprises to carry out low-carbon technologies innovation, which is conducive to the realization of the government’s carbon emission reduction target. Under centralized decision-making, the R&D investment of enterprises will not achieve immediate results, and the carbon emissions of enterprises under centralized decision-making are relatively high compared with those under decentralized decision-making. The improvement of consumers’ low-carbon awareness will enhance the driving force of enterprises’ low-carbon technologies innovation, although it will not reduce the total carbon emissions of enterprises.