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So, what is a truly sustainable supply chain?
Sustainable supply chains can demonstrate measurable impacts on one or some of the following impact areas:
Environment: supply chains that:
a.) work to be as nature positive, circular, and regenerative as possible so polluting less, wasting less, turning wastes into inputs, building repairability into products and components, and devising end of life of product recovery and repurposing strategies etc;
b.) support protection of the intrinsic value of nature and human rights dependent upon nature, across time and space.
Social: supply chains where:
a.) efforts are embedding the respect for human rights along their supply chains;
b.) there is proactive inclusion of small or marginal producers or vulnerable groups;
c.) indigenous peoples, local communities, women, minorities and other marginal groups are stewarding, leading, and/or benefitting from more sustainable trade and production systems.
Governance: supply chains where:
a.) technological, governance, business model and other innovations are making supply chain risk management, monitoring, reporting more viable, more robust, and more fair;
b.) where accountability structures are generally more robust, democratic, inclusive and thus effective;
c.) where candidates are co-leading cross-sector and cross-tier partnerships that are addressing the root causes of severe human rights and environmental risks.
Economic: supply chains where:
a.) tech innovations or other solutions are making sustainable supply chains more affordable and thus more possible, or;
b.) business models are seeding, scaling, or deepening new ways of doing business more sustainably or;
c.) innovations are disrupting barriers to more sustainable supply chains in ways that are scalable.
In sustainable supply chains, companies
- respect human rights, for people today and tomorrow.
- consider cultural as well as environmental heritage.
- use their leverage to influence business partners and other stakeholders to make the changes necessary to make the chain more sustainable.
- lead by example.
- partner to drive for greater impact sooner.
- are authentic, communicating on their activities
- are fundamentally curious and innovative, seeking out issues and using their power to address them.
- are transparent, with businesses clearly, promptly and regularly reporting their sustainability performance at the group, site, and product level to all stakeholders.
- are truthful and thus trusted, able to disclose and learn from things when they go wrong or when there are surprises, and committed to remedy.
When all this is done, you get supply chains that are:
- equitable, seeking win-win trading relationships that bring mutual benefits sustainably to both trading partners.
- inclusive, ensuring small producers are not excluded from participation with proactiveness in keeping them engaged.
- comprehensive, considering the E, S, G and Ec (economic) impacts holistically
- dynamic, able to adapt to changing circumstances in operating environments and markets and opportunistic in the face of threat.
- not anthropocentric; they also value nature intrinsically for the sake of itself.
- inspiring.