A more sustainable supply chain in 5 steps
The UN defines supply chain sustainability as the management of environmental, social and economic impacts, and the encouragement of good governance practices, throughout the lifecycles of goods and services. With 80% of global trade passing through supply chains, the potential for positive impact is significant — and extending the UN Global Compact's 10 principles into the supply chain is where it starts.
Step 1: Mapping issues to suppliers
The first step is to understand the sustainability impacts of your supply chain. Gain an overview of suppliers and their sustainability impacts by identifying the environmental and social challenges they face and prioritizing different efforts with them.
Step 2: Involving suppliers in sustainability efforts
Involving suppliers in your sustainability efforts is critical. Establishing and communicating expectations through a supplier code of conduct ensures that the supplier's employees experience safe working conditions and respectful treatment.
Step 3: Establishing your starting point
Determine your starting point by collecting data from suppliers through a questionnaire or self-assessment. Orixe's sustainability self-assessment is a strong way to evaluate the performance of your suppliers' sustainable measures. An overall score for each company and an average score helps you keep control over your supply chain's sustainable performance.
Step 4: Develop training and capacity-building programs
Transfer knowledge across the supply chain by leveraging practices and case studies through online training and capacity-building campaigns. By selecting top-performing suppliers and showcasing the success stories, your company recognizes their efforts and demonstrates the practical benefits of sustainable initiatives to other suppliers.
Step 5: Auditing program
Some aspects are difficult to identify through self-assessments alone. Implement an audit program that measures performance over time. Orixe's auditing module simplifies, enhances and automates the process of auditing suppliers — providing an overview of all suppliers and their status so you can avoid using non-approved partners.
