<p>Inventory control is a cornerstone of operations research, ensuring seamless supply chains, especially during high-demand periods. To enhance efficiency, organizations increasingly adopt two-warehouse systems—comprising owned and rented facilities—while retailers implement hybrid cash-advance payment policies with discount incentives to boost demand and expand their customer base. Sustainability has become a priority, driving efforts to reduce carbon emissions through environmentally friendly practices. This study introduces an innovative two-warehouse sustainable inventory model for perishable items, incorporating the learning effect during holding periods, green technologies, and a carbon cap-and-tax mechanism. Demand dynamics are modeled to reflect time variations, advertising frequency, and price sensitivity. The research offers three key contributions: (i) analyzing hybrid cash-advance payment policies with discounts on total purchase costs, (ii) evaluating the effectiveness of two-warehouse systems and green technology in preventing stock-outs and reducing emissions, and (iii) investigating the learning effect, transportation costs, and sustainability expenses for perishable items. Validated through numerical experiments using advanced nature-inspired optimization techniques like the AOA algorithm, the model addresses complex, non-differentiable objective functions. Sensitivity analysis conducted in MATLAB highlights the influence of key parameters on inventory performance, identifying cost-minimizing factors. The findings demonstrate how retailers can optimize inventory management, cash flow, and customer satisfaction while achieving sustainability goals. Designed to meet dynamic market demands, the model is versatile, benefiting sectors such as e-commerce, seasonal businesses, and grocery stores, aligning operational efficiency with environmentally responsible objectives in a global economy.</p>