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Companies have a growing responsibility to ensure their supply chains are sustainable, and in doing so, there is an opportunity to create both financial and non-financial value for themselves and their partners.
To start thinking about sustainability in the supply chain, the first step is to map your current state. From there, opportunities can be identified, risks can be mitigated and a future state can be designed with a roadmap to achieve the desired outcome.
According to the International Supply Chain Education Alliance (ISCEA), sustainability in supply chain management is about "orchestrating and continuously improving the planning and execution of processes at strategic, tactical and operational levels along an end-to-end value chain to achieve the most efficient use of resources in terms of utilisation and cost, while minimising waste and carbon footprint".
End-to-end covers the entire supply chain process: from product design and raw material sourcing to manufacturing, delivery of the final product and after-sales service (including end-of-life disposal).
To be successful, there needs to be a strong alignment between corporate strategy and supply chain strategy, with a good understanding of the key priorities.
It's therefore important to first know what are the company's ESG material topics (and thus priorities) before launching a supply chain strategy.
The materiality assessment is a tool that can help companies determine how to prioritise diverse environmental, social and governance (ESG) issues by identifying which issues matter most to the business success of the company and the company's stakeholders. After identifying the SDGs that have the greatest impact in terms of risks and opportunities, companies should determine the supply chain levers/solutions to scale and improve impact in terms of procurement, manufacturing, logistics and distribution.
Creating and implementing a supplier code of conduct is the first step to take for a sustainable supply chain.
Establishing a supplier code of conduct presents a chance for your company to foster a shared understanding with your suppliers regarding your fundamental principles and values. This will also aid in attracting suppliers whose values align with yours, while also providing clarity to discern mismatches. Moreover, it serves as a protective measure against potential risks and fosters transparent communication between your company and your suppliers. It should cover at least labor, environment, and ethics.
Conducting a baseline assessment of your company's supply chain sustainability involves assessing and understanding the current state of environmental and social impacts in your end-to-end supply chain.
You can start by asking suppliers to fill a simple pre-/re-qualification ESG assessment. Ask about their environmental policies, waste management, energy usage, labor practices, supply chain transparency, and any initiatives they have implemented to reduce their environmental footprint. Check their EcoVadis score.
For critical suppliers a more in depth assessment can be implemented including annual data collection. Here's a step-by-step guide to help you do so:
1. Define scope and boundaries
Tip: You may want to start with your internal supply chain to gain a better understanding of the baseline assessment, then extend it to your key suppliers and downstream supply chain.
2. Identify key sustainability metrics
3. Gather data
4. Assess environmental impacts
5. Assess social and ethical practices
A structured approach to supply chain risk management is required to assess all the vulnerabilities of the existing supply chain to current and future climate conditions. The framework should include and assess risks related to the social and environmental impacts of the entire chain.
Parts of the supply chain that are not under direct control may be more difficult to assess, so the first step is to create transparency of operations before assessing the level of risk.
An initial tabletop assessment can be conducted with all supply chain actors to get started. Risk assessment is a recursive approach where low probability, low impact risks can be discarded and high probability, high impact risks can be assessed over time.
As a minimum, the following risk components are required:
High probability/high severity risk mitigation plans need to be monitored frequently and used as input to the future state of the supply chain.
Typical risks to analyse as part of any sustainable procurement strategy are health and safety, working conditions, human rights, environmental practices and environmental risks, carbon footprint, ethics and compliance. geopolitics...
Redesigning the supply chain is required to achieve a step change in your sustainability results. Redesign takes into account sustainability needs, cost objectives, responsiveness requirements and resiliency objectives.
The redesign work follows several steps:
1. Gather business needs, sustainability needs and environmental and social risk mitigation needs identified in previous solutions.
2. Translate needs into supply network requirements
3. Finalise the best option and document the future state of the supply chain
4. Establish a transition plan, financial implications and resources
Redesign is a complex, multi-year journey. It may require supplier confirmation to support the changes brought about by the new supply chain and/or the introduction of new suppliers.
Once the transformation action plan is in place, a continuous improvement method such as Plan/Do/Check/Act (PCDA) is required to monitor, control, and adjust the plan over time. The control and monitoring of supply chain performance for environmental and social metrics require a structured approach, which can leverage already implemented ERP systems or be done out of dedicated cloud-based ESG solutions.
Outside Connectivity is critical as ongoing monitoring needs to be done for both internal and external supply chain components - see details under the procurement solutions (link to the subcategory). Aligning the reporting strategy in line with retained priorities with the supply chain stakeholders is critical to avoid multiple data sources and rework/misalignment throughout the journey.
The reporting platform can be connected to ESG databases (eg Emissions factor database for GHG Reporting) to allow transparency for both the main company and its supplier base. Beyond reporting capability, some of the platforms help for cross-supply chain collaboration to capture both targets and joined action plans of the supply chain actors.
Some common types of KPIs tracked by companies when they implement sustainable procurement processes:
The « sustainability journey » may feel overwhelming sometimes, but you are not alone.
Our Buddies have tried, succeeded, failed to implement change in their companies. They share their experience so you can learn, take shortcuts, get inspired and ask questions.
Everybody can become a Buddy and give back to the community; if you are keen, get in touch with us.
In 2023, I co-founded Greenfinity, a Singapore-based supply chain sustainability venture focusing on sustainable and low-carbon transformation for supply chains. The objective is to help people and companies strategize their sustainability action plans to make a difference for the planet, the people, and the business.
I have a background in industrial engineering and supply chain management and 20 years of multi-national company experience in Europe and Asia, driving best-in-class logistics, manufacturing, customer services, and planning processes (S&OP/IBP). With climate change becoming an additional consideration to supply chain management over the past decade, I decided to help supply chain professionals juggle between achieving the best service, optimal cost, cash efficiency, and now decarbonization.
I hold a master's degree in Strategic Procurement (DESMA) and have nearly 20 years of experience in procurement and supply chain transformation within the services industry (Facility Management, Food, Textiles, Hospitality, and remote sites). My career spans across Europe, Asia, and currently the Middle East.
I am passionate about transformation and change management, with expertise in the following areas:
I am a leader in Procurement with over 15 years of experience spanning diverse industries such as Energy, Rail and Maritime across regions including Europe, Australia and Singapore. I believe Procurement has the huge responsibility to influence the supply chain to make a difference for our planet and communities. This belief fuels my passion and elevate my ambitions. There are countless opportunities to embed sustainable practices in Procurement, which fascinates me!
With a background in sustainability consulting and audit, Ivona supports businesses in their sustainability journey by building an impactful strategy, embedding sustainable practices across operations, and reporting performance to stakeholders.
She is the founder of Sustainao, a Singapore-based company specialized in sustainability consulting. Previously, Ivona worked as a sustainability auditor at KPMG France. She holds an MBA in CSR & Sustainability and a Master’s degree in Environmental Management.
Mun Wei is the founder and principal consultant of SustainableSG, which provides advisory and training services in sustainability, strategy, risk and entrepreneurship.
He has worked with corporate, government and non-profit clients on strategy and implementation, reviewing organizational programmes and targets related to the UN Sustainable Development Goals, benchmarking and communicating sustainability and other corporate programmes and achievements, promoting inclusive hiring, developing compliance policies and reports, and formulating innovative business models.
He is also an Adjunct Lecturer at the Singapore University of Social Sciences.
I have over 15 years experience in Responsible Value Chain. I started as a Sustainable material experts to slowly cover the entire Value chain and life cycle of products.
I am a change management practitioner with more than 12 years of experience in this field. In this context I have accompanied various initiatives to drive operational excellence, to improve cross-silo collaboration, and strengthen leadership qualities. In addition, I accompanied companies to establish new strategies, values and behaviours with the result to nudge cultures.
With Hive17, I focus on supporting companies along their sustainability journey. Key questions are how are the targets & strategies implemented across the organisation? And how can we create a culture that leads to success in sustainability.
I enjoy improving processes and creating data-driven insights. My background is in process development and operations as Quality Manager and COO. A few years back, I decided to re-purpose my career and have since then studied different aspects of Sustainable Business Development at the University in Sweden as well as the Sustainability Reporting Standards (GRI, SASB, TCFD and ISSB work in progress).
Now, I am here to help SMEs integrate sustainability into their business strategy and operations, focusing on the impact that environmental and social aspects will have on the organisation's ability to create value. By reducing the scope to the most relevant materiality topics, even SMEs with limited resources have a chance to start their transition to more sustainable practices.
I am the Co-Founder of Sustainable Gaia, a Singapore based sustainability consultancy, focusing on sustainability reporting using GRI, TCFD, UNSDGs, ISO 14064 and other frameworks. I also help companies through sustainability consulting, training and research to help them meet and go beyond ESG compliance needs, to manage risks and to unlock opportunities while transitioning to a net zero world.
I have a background in Finance (MBA from IIM Calcutta), Financial Economics (M.Sc from University of London) and ESG (through various certifications and sustainability experience). I have done curriculum development and training for a wide range of companies, and agencies like National Environmental Agency and Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy around Systems Thinking and Social Entrepreneurship respectively.
I work at Terrascope, which offers an end-to-end decarbonisation SaaS platform that enables enterprises to measure and manage their Scope-1, Scope-2 and Scope-3 emissions across operations, supply chains, and portfolios. As Climate Regulations Specialist, I help ensure that our product stays ahead of the regulatory curve and advise clients to navigate the dynamic and complex climate regulatory landscape.
Prior to joining Terrascope, I worked at EcoVadis - a global ESG ratings company - where I launched its Singapore office which served more than 800 companies within its first year of operations. The ratings include environmental, social, ethics and sustainable procurement metrics.
I started my career with the Singapore Government, spanning portfolios including manpower, education, transport and decarbonisation. I also helped spearhead the government's measures to fight Covid-19.
I graduated from the London School of Economics, SciencesPo Paris, and Oxford University. As an undergraduate at Oxford, I helped launch the inaugural Oxford Climate Forum - the UK's largest student-run climate change event.
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At South Pole, Chris supports Asian clients in their climate leadership and circular economy journey. The scope of services includes both carbon credits & sustainability consultancy. Chris currently manages clients from more than 10 Asian countries in categories such as conglomerate, agriculture, property development, asset management, retailing, information technology, and energy.
Graduated in IT and marketing, Nicolas started his career at SAUTER, a Swiss BMS Supplier, in the HQ in 2008 and has been a product manager for several years. After the successful launch of the first BMS Cloud in Europe, he became business developer in the APAC region in 2015. He relocated to Shanghai for 20 months to be closer to the markets, before moving to Singapore in 2018 where he created and directed the SAUTER APAC Competence Centre until June 2022. Since then, he has taken on the role of CEO at beez-fm, a green tech startup he founded in December 2019.
Radhika is the Co-founder of Tulyā, A Sustainability Management Accounting (SMA) Services company. Her work includes measurement and understanding of the impact environmental and social factors will have on the value creation for SMEs. She develops tailored tools and practices that integrate material topics (ESG & Business) with accounting statements line items to demonstrate financial impact of action vs inaction.
She has worked with Lehman Brothers, Barclays and IT services companies before starting her entrepreneurial journey in sustainability.
She is a graduate in Chemical Engineering and has been certified in SASB , PMP, CSM & Design Thinking-MIT.
Founder and Director of the consulting business Zero Waste City, Rémi provides engineering consulting services to large commercial and industrial facilities on waste management, energy efficiency, and packaging design.
He has gained a strong experience as a consultant covering a wide range of industries and technologies in New Zealand, Australia, and Singapore.
He is a certified TRUE Advisor (Total Resource Use Efficiency) by the U.S. Green Building Council Inc. This certification recognised his knowledge in Zero Waste programs and his ability to support businesses to achieve the TRUE Zero Waste certification.
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Sammie is the Director of Social Impact & Sustainability at Williams-Sonoma.
At Williams-Sonoma, she collaborates with leadership across the business to achieve the goal of 75% of products purchased from suppliers who offer worker wellbeing programs by 2030.
She is a CSR practitioner with 20 years of experience. She has managed CSR and sustainability programs at Target, C&A, Abercrombie & Fitch, and American Eagle Outfitters.
I have more than 20 years experience leading change and transformation in Europe, Africa and Asia. I have had the privilege of managing and contributing to diverse industries, organisation (Humanitarian and corporate) to secure engagement and impact. In my last role I worked in a large MNC supply chain environment engaging external partners to increase our impact in sustainability.
Ex-fashion designer and entrepreneur, Roxane first started in the fashion industry holding several Head designer positions for high-end and high street activewear brands, leading product development from specs and material sourcing to supply chain management and production. She, then, went on an unexpected and career changing entrepreneurial journey, which included co-founding barePack, a container-sharing business in Singapore.
Roxane has also been engaged as a public speaker and expert advisor for all matters regarding sustainable materials and textiles, plastics economy, circular packaging, reuse models and recycling. She is currently a Sustainable Fashion Advisor and Curriculum Developer at the Textile and Fashion Industry Training Centre (TaF.tc), delivering sustainability curriculum and support to students and management, respectively, and board advisor to the materials traceability and circularity platform Orobo.
