Impediments to Environmental Sustainability Adoption Within Supply Chain of an Indian Nickeling SMEs—An ISM and MICMAC Analysis

In 2015, the UN resolution aimed to adopt seventeen Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to tackle climate change, inequality, and poverty. The timeline of SDGs implementation was to be spread over the next 15 years and intended primarily to check the pollution echelons and rapid degradation of resources due to massive industrialization. However, numerous barriers impede sustainability adoption in supply chains. This paper identifies and assesses the environmental barriers to Nickeling SMEs in India. In this study, the barriers are evaluated, and their interrelations are studied to develop a hierarchical solution that would help in the productive adoption of SDGs from an Indian perspective. The instrument used for this purpose is Interpretive Structural Modelling (ISM) which is entirely adjustable for identifying and establishing relationships among various barriers. The present research work considers nine obstacles that act as an impediment. These nine barriers are further plotted on their driving and dependence powers and categorized into four zones: Autonomous, Dependent, Linkage, and Independent. The analysis helps assess and prioritize the environmental barriers to sustainability implementation in the Nickeling SMEs from an Indian perspective.