Collaboration & Circularity Key to Sustainable Supply Chains
Supply chain sustainability is quickly becoming a hot topic, with many leaders turning their heads to Scope 3 emissions and electrification.
One report from Accenture found that supply chains account for approximately 60% of global carbon emissions, with half of all CEOs viewing supply chain responsibility as part of their sustainability strategy.
With this in mind, it is encouraging to see industry leaders, and competitors, come together to discuss the role supply chains play in sustainability.
“The Supply Chain of Tomorrow” panel discussion, hosted by RS Group and mediated by Andrea Barrett, the company’s VP of Social Responsibility and Sustainability, underscored the importance of collaboration across industries to achieve ambitious, but necessary, climate goals emphasising the need for shared insights.
Sustainability within procurement
Helen Alder, Head of Knowledge and Learning Development for The Chartered Institute of Procurement & Supply (CIPS), began the discussion on sustainable procurement.
She highlighted the challenge of integrating sustainability into procurement processes, particularly in evaluating options with embedded carbon and Scope 3 emissions.
“I think the challenging bit is still around the sustainability assessment and the decision making of, which one do you pick? Because there's so many dilemmas, in terms of embedded carbon.
“For example, is it better to keep a very old capital piece of equipment running? Or is it better to scrap that and go and buy a brand new thing that uses less energy and might have much lower running costs.”
She explained that even this decision could vary widely among businesses, but that tools such as the CIPS Procurement Supply Cycle aid in this integration.
Katharina Raimann, Sustainability Manager at Siemens, outlined the company’s framework to achieve a net-zero supply chain by 2050.
“At Siemens, we do various external sustainability audits with our main suppliers. We have a mechanism internally and then we work together with external audit companies and check whether all of the requirements which are in our Code of Conduct are complied with.
“We created a framework where each and every Siemens supplier, over 65,000, gets a sustainability score, and that score can be directly translated into our total cost of ownership analysis.”
She explained it prioritises sustainable sourcing, employee empowerment, external audits, and the integration of sustainability into sourcing decisions, leveraging technological advancements and training initiatives.
“How can we empower our people to really embed sustainability in the processes? How can we utilise the broad knowledge which our colleagues have and build up for years in order to succeed on that opportunity?” Katharina asks.
Sustainable packaging and logistics
Carolyn Park, VP Group Supply Chain, detailed RS Group’s efforts to measure packaging intensity, recycled content and recyclability.
The company’s initiatives include transitioning to brown cardboard with higher recycled content and adopting paper-based systems.
RS Group has introduced sustainable totes to replace cardboard within Europe, promoting reuse and waste reduction.
At its Nuneaton centre, initiatives to eliminate plastic waste fostered company-wide engagement— including crafting an elephant out of plastic to highlight the issue.
Helen explained that one of her company’s attempts to reduce plastic waste actually ended up causing more landfill.
Its textbooks were being left on doorsteps in bad weather conditions, without their plastic coverings, and then being thrown away straight away due to the damage.
As a result, the company reverted back to using plastic packaging for that particular product— emphasising the need for a case-by-case assessment.
Glynn Hobbs, Logistics Territory Director UK&I at Schneider Electric, similarly emphasised life-cycle sustainability across product design, production, and disposal, focusing on repurposing and recycling.
“I think what utopia looks like is almost local manufacturing in a local market,” he stated.
“But in an industry where you have global product ranges, that's not really practical. So instead, we need to think about if we stocking the right things in the right places for the right markets?
“Do we need to convert more to a Made to Order Type profile, which has different characteristics around lead time, distribution and transportation? All of that has challenges, certainly around sustainability topics.”
Collaboration is the way forward
The panel excelled in emphasising the critical role of collaboration in advancing sustainability practices.
Andrea highlighted RS Group’s efforts to standardise sustainability frameworks, promoting transparency and trust in green claims.
She also described her role in the heart of the value chain as a "facilitator" for these sustainability discussions, explaining the need to "break down competitive barriers to share insights and learn."
The discussion highlighted a multifaceted approach to building sustainable supply chains for the future and it was great to see panellists agree on the necessity of continuous improvement and transparent communication in sustainability efforts.
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