Tools for a Sustainable Supply Chain
It's not enough to manage your own operations in an environmentally and socially responsible way -- you also need to think about your supply chain. Daunted? You're not alone. Most of our clients ask us to help with some aspect of "greening" their supply chain. Popular choices include:
Supplier Code of Conduct
Develop a set of clear expectations that align with international best practices: labor and decent work, human rights, environment, health and safety, confidentiality and privacy, and grievance procedures.
Evaluation and Auditing
Integrate sustainability into your new vendor evaluation process. Create a system of spot-checks using internal and third-party auditing teams. Understand common problems in your value chain, and mitigate your risk!
Supplier Engagement
Figure out what sustainability risks are lurking in your supply chain. Collect sustainability data from suppliers that helps you make better decisions. Develop partnerships that help BOTH parties achieve their goals.
Lessons on Supply Chain Sustainability
(See the rest of the video interview on our YouTube channel.)
In 2011, the Carbon Disclosure Project chose agriculture as the focus of a pilot study on carbon emissions and the supply chain. Using the examples of tomatoes and potatoes, the research team looked at how effective, robust, and accessible it was to gather data from agriculture suppliers. The results, compiled in Unearthed: Agricultural Emissions in the Corporate Supply Chain, are fascinating and offer lessons for companies in a variety of industries -- particularly those with major supply chain sustainability challenges.
In a four-part interview, Strategic Sustainability Consulting's President Jennifer Woofter talks with Kenton Harmer of Common Fields LLC, one of the lead researchers for the CDP project. Kenton provides an overview of the report's findings, and discusses some of the surprising discoveries uncovered in his research.
In this clip, Kenton reveals what companies should do BEFORE before embarking on a data-gathering mission with their suppliers. There are important lessons here for ALL companies engaging their supply chain.