Lindt & Sprüngli: Developing Sustainable Procurement
Procurement can be an important lever in sustainability efforts, able to reduce Scope 3 emissions which are often the largest portion of businesses' carbon footprints.
In a discussion with EcoVadis' Annette Gevaert, SVP, Alliances & Strategic Initiatives for its EV Talks, Julia Laveissierre Head of Responsible Sourcing at Lindt & Sprüngli Group, discussed how integrating EcoVadis and Sievo transformed its procurement.
Transforming supply chain management
Lindt & Sprüngli, the Swiss chocolatier, has embraced innovation in sustainable procurement by incorporating EcoVadis Ratings into its Sievo sourcing platform.
The Sievo-EcoVadis connector forms the core of this strategy, centralising decisions and easing the risk validation process.
It has streamlined efforts in sustainable procurement, achieving 76% supplier coverage and promoting resilience throughout the supply chain.
By merging EcoVadis sustainability data with Sievo's procurement intelligence, Lindt & Sprüngli elevates sustainability insights within its sourcing framework.
It streamlined risk validation processes by making critical sustainability information instantly accessible during sourcing decisions and built enhanced supply chain resilience through data-driven sustainability assessments.
The Sievo-EcoVadis connector acts as a scaffold, tying supplier spending data with thorough sustainability evaluations, empowering procurement teams to navigate cost, quality and sustainability performance while preserving existing workflows.
As a result, Lindt & Sprüngli fortifies a sustainable supply chain that echoes its dedication to responsible sourcing while preserving operational efficiency.
Creating order from chaos
The company chose EcoVadis after searching for a tool which could enable it to measure the sustainability maturity of its suppliers.
This collaboration brought structure to unstructured data, organising supplier information and easing the diagnostic process for buyers.
"Sievo is acting like a data lake," Julia says. "Suddenly, in one place, the buyer can manage sustainability as they manage the rest."
Julia highlighted an example where, in Sievo, it could request a scorecard directly to a supplier, but also have access to the results. Straight away, a buyer could see which supplier has not completed its sustainability assessments – whilst also seeing what the scores are, allowing them to present it back to the supplier.
The benefit of the integration allows Sievo to act as a vital, one source of truth for the business, helping buyers make decisions, whilst also reviewing through the platform's capabilities.
Sievo allows users to easily access the supplier's performance, spend and sustainability.
"The beauty of that is, because this tool is highly adopted for a long time, the buyer suddenly also has access to sustainability and it becomes fully integrated into discussion with suppliers, into category reviews, risk management, that was the beauty of that," says Julia. "One place, they can do everything."
Building resilience through partnership and innovation
Procurement teams are currently under pressure to meet strict regulations and guidelines. For Lindt & Sprüngli, EcoVadis helps when it comes to due diligence, becoming a tool that helps risk validation processes.
When it comes to carbon reduction, Lindt, like lots of companies, looks for contribution from suppliers.
When the company is considering a supplier it has identified as a high risk, it uses the EcoVadis score to help answer due diligence requirements.
Sustainable procurement is vital for Lindt & Sprüngli, with Julia describing it as key to drive the business in the long term.
Sustainable procurement has helped Lindt & Sprüngli build resilience through its supply chain, which helps to mitigate challenges during supply crises.
Looking ahead, Julia predicts challenges will continue. She says that a resilient supply chain is vital to overcome these challenges, adding that partnering with suppliers to ensure the right dialogue is being had is key.
Alongside supplier partnerships, she also stressed that innovation is important. "To be able to be resilient, you have to do business differently than you do today, and your partners or suppliers can't do it alone.
"We cannot just ask suppliers to do things. We need to partner with them - it's a virtuous circle where you create innovation, you can invest and help them to change."
