This research studies environment dimensions of Canadian petroleum refinery companies. It proposes an analysis of the supply chain and focuses on specific actions related to the following: reduction of contaminants; analysis of the operations process; development of parameters and characteristics that can evolve into a benchmarking system for measuring greenness efforts of petroleum refineries. Based on a previous model suggested by the first two authors, this analysis aims at defining the basic features of an 'Olympic' green supply chain, characterised by zero emissions, zero waste of resources, zero waste in activities, zero use of toxics, and zero waste in product life-cycle.

Keywords: green supply chain, petroleum industry, environmental management, Kyoto convention, Canada, supply chain management, SCM, petroleum refineries, zero emissions, zero waste, toxic waste, product life-cycle, benchmarking