<p>We investigate how carbon tax affects logistics mode selection in appliance supply chains, aiming to determine the optimal strategy balancing economic and environmental performance. A dual-channel supply chain is considered with the manufacturer assuming the direct selling channel (<i>d-</i>channel) logistics, while the e-retail channel (<i>r</i>-channel) logistics can be managed by either the manufacturer (M-mode) or e-retailer (R-mode). Carriers differ in cost and emission performance. We focus on situations with comparative advantages, where one carrier has a cost advantage but an emission disadvantage (or vice versa), and develop a game-theoretic model to analyze four scenarios. This study reveals four principal findings. First, when a firm’s logistics cost advantage outweighs another’s carbon emission advantage, the supply chain-preferred carrier shifts to the cost-advantaged firm. Second, under M-mode, when the manufacturer logistics demonstrates a significant carbon emission advantage, the e-retailer reduces the price. Third, when the e-retailer logistics demonstrates a significant carbon emission advantage or when price competition is intense, the carbon tax can boost the e-retailer’s profit under R-mode, since the narrowed inter-channel price differential mitigate the negative impact of the double marginality. Last, the carbon tax may negatively affect consumers due to the increased prices. This research incorporates carbon tax and consumers’ environmental awareness into logistics mode selection, providing theoretical and practical insights for firms and policymakers. Firms should consider both cost and emissions in logistics decisions, while governments should implement carbon tax cautiously to avoid excessive consumer burden when emission reduction is challenging.</p>