Supply chain pushing sustainability

Supply chain demands –  many businesses first engage with sustainability following demands from ‘upstream’ customers to provide a strategy on sustainability in order to be considered for tenders. SustainEd helps businesses build such strategies.

Sustainability is a radical rethink and business transformation that has been taking place across the globe since the Rio Earth Summit in 1992. Many of the world’s leading businesses  – for example, Walmart, Nike, Vodafone –  are now working strategically towards sustainability. Several national governments and agencies are also using sustainability as a pre-requisite or judging criterion for submitted tenders. There is often a demand by businesses and organisations that their suppliers show how they are developing and delivering on their own  progress towards sustainability, thus greening the supply chain.

The details of the strategy will depend on the sector and the individual company. It is not possible to acquire an off-the-shelf strategy that will meet the demands of suppliers. There are now international guidelines and standards in place which companies need to be aware of and perhaps to comply with. There is the Global Reporting Initiative, various Eco-system Stewardship Certificates, Responsible Business Codes of Practice, Social Inclusion Indices and many more that focus on specific sectors. SustainEd personnel can help businesses develop strategies that meet these standards.