Category: Supply chain

Webinar: The Power of Chemical Footprinting

June 6, 2017, 10am CDT
Register at https://www.chemicalfootprint.org/news/event/the-power-of-chemical-footprinting

Explore the value of calculating the chemical footprint for your company by hearing how one company took this on for the first time, from the Pure Strategies’ report, The Power of Chemical Footprinting.

Radio Flyer identified this is an improvement opportunity after taking the Chemical Footprint Project survey last year and the idea of measuring chemicals of concern resonated with the company’s approach and provided a common and easily understood metric to track progress in chemicals management.

Radio Flyer will share their experience and, along with their research partner, Pure Strategies, will provide tips and insight on how to get the most value and progress from this effort and the Chemical Footprint Project, to drive toward safer materials.

See also the Pure Strategies report on Radio Flyer’s transition to greater chemical transparency and safer products and supply chains. Free registration is required for download.

How Global Value Chains Push and Pull U.S. Companies on Climate Action

Read the full story at BSR.

In the United States, companies are engaging in climate action as a result of different domestic business drivers: Investing in renewables, innovating to create climate-compatible products, and attracting new talent through environmental values are most often driven by local or regional imperatives.

But for most companies operating within global value chains, the pull and push of climate action also comes from abroad, and many U.S. companies now understand the potential to demonstrate global leadership through climate action.

Ikea’s solution to peak stuff? Invest in plastics recycling plant

Read the full story in The Guardian.

Furniture giant commits to reducing use of virgin raw materials but experts raise concerns about supply chain domination.

Cargill, Hershey’s, Mars Target Cocoa Supply Chain Sustainability

Read the full story in Environmental Leader.

Cargill, Hershey’s, Mars, Mondelez International, and Nestlé are among the latest multi-nationals to target sustainable supply chain initiatives. These companies, along with seven other major cocoa and chocolate companies, have committed to work with each other, alongside governments and NGOs, to end deforestation and forest degradation in the global cocoa supply chain. They will initially focus on Côte d’Ivoire and Ghana, the world’s leading producers of cocoa.

Deforestation represents a significant risk to these companies: as much as $906 billion total annual turnover could be at risk because of deforestation, according to a CDP study based on data disclosed by 187 companies last year.

Corporate Procurement Officers Say Sustainability Now Key Criteria For Purchases

Read the full story at Ecosystem Marketplace.

More and more companies are incorporating sustainability criteria into their procurement activities, according to new research released February 7.

The 2017 Sustainable Procurement Barometer, published jointly by Paris-based sustainability consultancy EcoVadis, and the Hautes études commerciales de Paris (HEC Paris) business school, is the first Barometer report since 2013, and it shows a sharp increase in sustainability awareness. The findings echo those of the Forest Trends Supply Change project, which shows steadily increasing corporate action to halt deforestation.

Sustainable Procurement Increases Revenue Growth, Study Says

Read the full story in Environmental Leader.

Fifty percent of sustainable procurement leaders increased their revenue from sustainability initiatives, a 33 percent increase over non-leaders, according to the results of the latest EcoVadis/HEC Sustainable Procurement Barometer.

The research, which was compiled through a survey of 120 supply chain professionals globally, found that almost all organizations (97 percent) place a high level of importance on sustainable procurement. This continues the upward trajectory of previous years, illustrating how established the field has become in less than 10 years’ time, EcoVadis says.

Is your sustainable supply chain program really as good as you think?

Read the full story in GreenBiz.

While the principle of having a sustainable supply chain program is clear and widely accepted, there is still a lack of consensus on the practice. Notwithstanding the forthcoming launch of the ISO 20400 standard on sustainable procurement, there exists no globally accepted framework for what constitutes good practice, although there are frameworks for labor rights through the ILO fundamental principles and core conventions, human rights through the U.N. Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights, and, now, climate change through the Paris Agreement.