Sustainability in Supply Chains: Building Habits for a Resilient Business

In the previous blog, I introduced 4 aspects of Supply chain: Suppliers, Inventory, Sustainability and Transportation: In this blog, I will focus on Sustainability Sustainability simply means making your business sustainable in the long run. Given the statistics that only 1 out of 10 startups survive, it makes sense that if yours manages to escape the valley of death, you kind of want it to last for long. Everyone now accepts that certain healthy habits such as eating a plant based diet, exercising, getting enough sleep, positive social connections, even meditation are all important habits if we want to live long and healthy lives. For companies, it turns out there are healthy habits too such as: 1. Treating your customers, employees, shareholders and communities well. 2. Doing no harm to the environment. 3. Doing no harm to others. If your business cannot survive unless your suppliers' workers earn less than a living wage, you need to go back to the drawing board. Ignoring the plight of indirect workers in your supply chain makes as much sense as ignoring the garbage piling up in your neighbour’s yard. Eventually the stench and the mice will get your attention. Everyone agrees that we need urgent action on climate change but how to go about it in a meaningful way can be quite complex and daunting. Consumers increasingly make it clear through their purchase decisions that climate change matters to them. Regulation is also moving quite rapidly towards holding companies more accountable. So I recommend taking proactive action. No business is too small to take proactive action. Greenhouse gas emissions are classified into Scopes 1-3. Scopes 1 and 2 are emissions directly linked to how you run your business. Start from there. For example, the source of power for your office, the form of business travel and transportation for you and your employees, the types of appliances you use in your office environment are all largely within your control. You can choose options which reduce carbon emission and use company policy to enforce those choices.

Then gradually move into Scope 3 Scope 3 emissions are largely the emissions by partners within your supply chain. They are not directly within your control. Reducing those emissions therefore requires relying on your influence. Building influence within your supply chain takes time. It could be a topic for another day so we will not go there today. For scope 3, start with a map. For each of your key products, draw maps showing the inputs that go into those products and where those inputs come from. Note if they come from a crop farm, an animal farm, an oil and gas plant, a chemical processing plant etc. The strategies for reducing emissions will differ based on this. As far as your influence can reach, begin to nudge your suppliers and their partners towards;

1. More climate friendly choices that will reduce their emissions 2. Fair employment practices Get data to back you up from the likes of The Greenhouse Gas Protocol, the Science Based Target Initiative and many industry groups working jointly on Sustainability. Remember, it is not a slam dunk. Making your supply chain more sustainable is a continuous effort In the next and final blog on Supply Chain, I will focus on Transportation! Have questions or comments or want to suggest a topic for the series? Send Juliet Anammah a short email at info@cgandrstrategy.com Disclaimer The content in this blog is intended to provide helpful and informative material on the subjects addressed. It is not intended to be exhaustive on any given subject. The content is offered “ as is, with no guarantees of completeness, accuracy, timeliness, or the results obtained from the use of this information. The author and publisher of this blog disclaim all liability and responsibility for any actions or results arising from the use of the information contained in this article, to the fullest extent permissible by law.