Did you know that up to 90% of a company's environmental impact comes from its supply chain? This statistic highlights businesses' massive responsibility to engage with their entire network of suppliers in the fight against climate change.
Across industries, we're seeing a growing emphasis on sustainability within supply chains. Whether it's reducing carbon emissions, ensuring ethical sourcing, or increasing transparency, the need for innovation and collaboration is clearer than ever. And by focusing on these areas, companies can make huge strides in reducing their overall environmental footprint.
My partner Jungheinrich AG is a good example of this. Instead of focusing solely on their own sustainability goals, they recently extended their efforts to their entire supply chain to take part in a self-assessment.
Businesses doing this can ensure transparency and accountability at every level. It also demonstrates that real change is possible when companies work together.
If your company could make one change today to engage its suppliers in sustainability, what would it be? I'd love to hear your thoughts and ideas.
#sustainability#supplychain#innovation
Sustainability in Supply Chains
A guide for private markets investors
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Private markets investors face increasing pressure to integrate sustainability into supply chain management.
This guide by PRI explains why supply chain due diligence is essential and how investors can embed it across the investment cycle to safeguard assets, reduce risks, and capture value.
Supply chain risks, ranging from human rights abuses to environmental violations, have become financially material issues with direct implications for investor performance, regulatory compliance, and reputation.
Human rights concerns are significant. Forced labour affects an estimated 28 million people worldwide, with rising risks in major sourcing countries such as India, Vietnam, China, Mexico and the United States. Migrant workers are particularly vulnerable, while child labour remains prevalent in high-risk industries and regions.
Working conditions also present serious challenges. Excessive hours, unsafe workplaces and poor wages undermine the stability of global supply chains.
These issues are concentrated in industries such as apparel, electronics, food and agriculture, construction materials and mining where oversight is often limited.
Environmental risks add complexity. Nearly half of global sourcing markets face high or extreme risk of violations related to waste management, emissions and hazardous materials. Biodiversity loss and deforestation linked to commodities such as palm oil, soy and timber increase exposure to both regulatory and operational disruptions.
Regulatory requirements are tightening worldwide. The EU Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive, the US Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act and the EU Deforestation Regulation compel companies and investors to identify, mitigate and report risks throughout their supply chains.
Failure to comply carries financial consequences. Volkswagen shipments were detained at US ports, Shein faced delays in listing plans due to sourcing concerns and companies in Germany were investigated and fined for breaches of the Supply Chain Act.
These examples show how supply chain management is now a strategic necessity.
Proactive due diligence creates opportunities. Companies with strong supply chain transparency and risk management can secure contracts, improve resilience, reduce costs and strengthen their brand. Investors can leverage these practices to enhance portfolio performance and protect value at exit.
The guide explains that due diligence should be present at every stage of the investment cycle.
This includes governance and policies, early screening, detailed risk assessments, legal agreements, active engagement, monitoring and exit planning. Clear roles, data systems and training are critical.
Integrating sustainability into supply chain due diligence strengthens both risk management and value creation.
#sustainability#business#sustainable#esg
The biggest supply chain mistake? Ignoring trade compliance.
Here’s how to turn compliance insights into a competitive advantage
Optimizing your supply chain with trade compliance insights is a game-changer.
Here are key strategies and considerations to make it happen.
Understanding Trade Compliance's Role
Trade compliance ensures all import and export activities follow international regulations. This is crucial for avoiding penalties and boosting supply chain performance. A solid trade compliance program reduces friction and enhances efficiency.
Key Strategies for Optimization
1. Conduct a Thorough Risk Assessment:
• Identify potential risks like tariff impacts and regulatory changes.
• Evaluate your total tariff liability to understand cost structures.
2. Enhance Internal Collaboration:
• Foster teamwork between procurement, legal, IT, and trade compliance.
• Establish a governance framework with executive sponsorship.
3. Leverage Technology:
• Use automated tools for classification workflows and supplier screening.
• Implement global trade analysis software for risk and cost savings.
4. Regular Training and Auditing:
• Conduct training sessions on compliance best practices.
• Perform internal audits of suppliers’ compliance policies.
5. Monitor Regulatory Changes:
• Stay updated on customs regulations, trade agreements, and sanctions.
• Engage with logistics providers offering compliance consulting.
6. Optimize Supply Chain Contracts:
• Review contracts with suppliers to include clear compliance obligations.
• This helps avoid non-compliance issues during audits.
Conclusion
Optimizing your supply chain through trade compliance involves risk management, technology, collaboration, and continuous education. Prioritizing these elements enhances operational resilience, reduces compliance costs, and drives long-term growth.
Call to action :
Ready to optimize your supply chain? Leverage these trade compliance insights to reduce costs and enhance operations
Great procurement isn't about price; it's about partnership and purpose.
Too often, procurement is misunderstood as simply the act of negotiating the lowest cost. But the organizations that thrive understand a deeper truth: procurement is a driver of resilience, trust, and long-term value.
-- When procurement focuses only on price, relationships remain transactional.
-- When procurement focuses on partnership, it builds collaboration, transparency, and innovation.
-- When procurement aligns with purpose, it ensures sustainable sourcing, ethical practices, and shared growth.
I have seen suppliers transform from vendors into strategic allies when trust and shared purpose were placed at the center of the relationship. The results?
-- Reduced risks
-- Greater innovation
-- More sustainable outcomes
-- Stronger resilience during disruptions
Procurement leaders must therefore ask themselves:
-- Are we negotiating for short-term savings, or are we investing in long-term partnerships?
-- Are we treating suppliers as replaceable, or as critical contributors to our success?
Because at the end of the day, procurement is not just about contracts and costs. It is about enabling organizations to achieve their vision with integrity, collaboration, and shared value.
Price may win the deal. Partnership and purpose build the future.
LinkedInLinkedin News#Procurement#SustainableProcurement#Leadership#SupplierManagement#BusinessExcellence
My inbox is full of supplier requests – sound familiar?
I see the same ‘script’ again and again, and can’t help but feel it’s time to change the narrative for suppliers that want to stand out in a new era of fashion.
So what do buyers want from suppliers in 2025 and beyond?
The fashion industry is shifting- fast.
Buyers are no longer simply looking for price, speed, and scale.
They’re looking for partners who can help them meet new expectations around transparency, accountability, and sustainability. 🤝
Here’s what’s increasingly at the top of buyers' priority lists:
✅ Transparent, traceable supply chains
✅ Certified materials and proof of origin
✅ Digital Product Passports to track inputs, impacts & compliance
✅ Innovation in low-impact materials
✅ Investment in technology that reduces emissions, waste & water
✅ Willingness to collaborate on circular design and resale strategies
✅ Shared values around people, planet, and purpose
The message is clear: Suppliers that invest in these areas will be the ones who stay in the game. 🚀
So, I’m curious to know
🙇 Buyers – what are you asking suppliers today that you weren’t 3 years ago?
🏭 Manufacturers – what support or tools do you need to meet these evolving expectations?
👇 Share in the comments - your insights will help shape the future of our industry.
#SustainableFashion#SupplyChainTransparency#FashionBuyers
Image: What repairs look like on the streets of Shanghai!
Since its founding in 2020, Transformers Foundation has established a body of work demonstrating that suppliers have not been meaningfully included in the creation of sustainability strategies – whether they pertain to cotton, climate action, chemical management, and beyond. This is not only unjust, it's ineffective.
This begs the question: if a key reason sustainability strategies fail is because the actors primarily responsible for enacting those strategies – suppliers – have not been meaningfully included in their creation, then where do sustainability strategies come from? Which stakeholder group(s) have defined the problems we seek to solve? How do solutions that reflect a particular - as opposed to shared - understanding of the problem end up so ubiquitous?
These questions were the catalyst for Transformers Foundation’s latest report – which looks at supplier inclusion and exclusion in fashion’s multi-stakeholder initiatives (MSIs) - and was authored by Elizabeth Cline.
The report reveals that suppliers tend to perceive MSIs as having developed or supported strategies, standards, tools, and assessments that are enacted solely by the supply chain for the benefit of brands and retailers without their full participation or buy-in.
The report’s conclusion supports and echoes Ilishio Lovejoy’s call to adapt and apply the organizational management theory of fair process to transform MSIs and enhance stakeholder engagement. Fair process is founded on three key principles:
👉Acknowledgment and reduction of bias: We call for non-biased decision-making that involves participants' perceptions of justice within a process. Organizations should acknowledge the role of bias and work to ensure that stakeholders feel they are being treated fairly in relation to others.
👉Equitable engagement and decision-making. We aren’t just calling for suppliers to have a seat at the table; they must have a meaningful voice in decision-making. We advocate equitable engagement and decision-making, which would address the power differentials and barriers suppliers face to engagement.
👉Transparency around the process - Transparency is key to building trust and buy-in in solutions. We advocate for clear rules and reporting concerning who makes decisions, how members can and cannot influence decisions, clear communication of final decisions, and how and why decisions were reached.
The term “fair process” sounds like a tidy, technical solution, but, in my view, it's pretty radical: it's a set of rules for rule-making – and rules can never be neutral. They always have a point of view on how power is distributed.
👉Download the report and register for the launch webinar on 14 November where we'll be joined by Tricia CareyAlberto De ContiElizabeth ClineIlishio Lovejoy: https://lnkd.in/e2-5ayme
This report was such a collective effort, but particular thanks to Marzia LanfranchiAni WellsCam-Ly Nguyen.
Not every corporate sustainability action will grab headlines, nor should they. The landscape has changed considerably in recent years -- for the better, I'd argue. There’s more rigor, more skepticism, much better data and a sharper focus on results than there was five or ten years ago. It’s become clear that real progress requires committed, consistent work that prioritizes impact, addresses the real-world implications of our operations and aligns with long-term business strategies.
And while the quieter, unflashy moves that occur “behind the scenes” might not be making major headlines, they're just as critical as the big ones. They help us stay focused on our goals, execute against our plans, and deliver results over time.
With that in mind, I thought I’d use this space to highlight some of the more subtle initiatives we’re driving forward at Levi Strauss & Co., alongside our bigger swings. When added together, they demonstrate how we’re embedding sustainability across our operations, learning and adapting along the way as we work to drive progress across our three main sustainability pillars of climate, consumption, and community.
For now, I’ll call it #sustainabilityspotlight (but I’m open to suggestions about the name).
For example: many suppliers want to make their operations more sustainable but don’t have access to the capital they need to make changes in their infrastructure and processes. So, we’re collaborating with the IFC - International Finance Corporation and their Global Trade Supplier Finance program to address the financing gap, helping suppliers that perform well on our Supplier Code of Conduct find the funding to strengthen foundational compliance measures – such as employee education on labor rights and chemical labelling. Over the years, we’ve refined our approach with IFC to not only improve compliance but also unlock broader sustainability initiatives, including renewable energy adoption.
Through this program, Epic Group—one of our key suppliers—has accessed more favorable financing by steadily improving their Code of Conduct scores and then used that funding to drive improvements in water use, energy efficiency and waste reduction at the factory level. Financing solutions like this are not one-size-fits-all, so it’s important we, as sustainability practitioners, take note of what’s working and how we can leverage those learnings elsewhere.
Read more about how the program supports suppliers here: https://lnkd.in/gNhNqPCA
And check back soon for my next #sustainabilityspotlight on the work we’re driving forward at LS&Co..
'the data reveals that artisanal mining for cobalt is a very hazardous vocation undertaken for basic survival, involving long hours, subsistence wages, and severe health impacts. The data further reveals that within the surveyed respondents, there is a high rate of forced labour and an almost 10% rate of child labour'
Rights Lab, University of Nottingham recent report, Blood Batteries, The #humanrights and #environmental impacts of cobalt mining in the Democratic Republic of the Congo demonstrates the continued issues with cobalt mining.
'- 36.8% of respondents met the project’s conservative criteria for forced labour
- 9.2% of respondents met the project’s conservative criteria for child labour
- 27.7% of respondents began working in artisanal mining as a minor
- Not a single respondent was a member of a trade union, as none exist
- Not a single respondent had a written agreement for their work .
For those #supplychain and #procurement professionals who are able to trace cobalt to source there are potential steps to be taken:
1. Ethical and Responsible Sourcing
Ensure traceability from artisanal and industrial mining sites in the DRC to final product, especially for cobalt used in EVs and electronics.
Demand transparency from suppliers, require disclosure of sourcing practices, human rights due diligence, and environmental impact assessments.
Prioritise suppliers who can demonstrate compliance with international labour standards and reject those linked to exploitative practices.
2. Environmental Stewardship
Incorporate geospatial and water toxicity data into supplier evaluations to avoid contributing to ecological degradation.
Promote circular economy principles such as battery recycling, reuse, and alternative materials to reduce dependence on high-impact cobalt mining.
3. Compliance and Governance
Align with UK Modern Slavery Act, ensure supply chain mapping and annual transparency statements reflect risks in high-impact regions like the DRC.
Embed environmental, social, and governance standards into tendering and contract management processes.
4. Practical Procurement Measures
Use multi-quote and business case procedures to ensure value for money and ethical sourcing, as outlined in UK finance and procurement policies.
Establish KPIs related to ethical sourcing, labour conditions, and environmental impact.
Anticipate changes from the Procurement Act 2025 and EU Critical Raw Materials Act that may affect sourcing obligations.
For the majority of buying organisations or as consumers this is a very difficult area, but as the report recommends Government's could do a lot more to reduce exploitation:
'Strengthen supply chain transparency and due diligence requirements of consumer-facing tech and EV companies with more robust legislation; laws should include strict and severe penalties as opposed to simple reporting requirements, including a potential import ban;'
𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗧𝗿𝗶𝗽𝗹𝗲 𝗕𝗼𝘁𝘁𝗼𝗺 𝗟𝗶𝗻𝗲 𝗳𝗮𝗰𝘁𝗼𝗿𝘀 𝗼𝗳 𝗥𝗲𝘀𝗽𝗼𝗻𝘀𝗶𝗯𝗹𝗲 𝗣𝗿𝗼𝗰𝘂𝗿𝗲𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁
This year, we celebrate 30 years since John Elkington introduced the Triple Bottom Line (TBL), a concept still gaining in relevance.
At the time, it was a revolutionary framework for balancing 𝗣𝗲𝗼𝗽𝗹𝗲, 𝗣𝗹𝗮𝗻𝗲𝘁 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗣𝗿𝗼𝗳𝗶𝘁. An idea which aligned with the principle of good corporate citizens and the principle shift from a share- to a stakeholder economy.
𝗪𝗵𝘆 𝗶𝘀 𝗶𝘁 𝗖𝗮𝗹𝗹𝗲𝗱 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗧𝗿𝗶𝗽𝗹𝗲 𝗕𝗼𝘁𝘁𝗼𝗺 𝗟𝗶𝗻𝗲?
Traditionally, businesses focused solely on financial performance, their "𝗯𝗼𝘁𝘁𝗼𝗺 𝗹𝗶𝗻𝗲."
The TBL expanded this idea to include two additional bottom lines, social (People) and environmental (Planet) performance, encouraging a holistic approach to value creation and promoting a more holistic view on good entrepreneurship.
For Procurement, the TBL is still very relevant and an integral part of Sustainability and ESG frameworks.
It's represented in:
𝗣𝗲𝗼𝗽𝗹𝗲: through responsible sourcing and promotion of ethical labor practices, supplier diversity, and fair treatment across the supply chain, measured through audits and due diligence activities.
𝗣𝗹𝗮𝗻𝗲𝘁: with sustainable and circular supply practices, reduction of carbon footprint measures and proactive green procurement strategies capturing the data points to monitor impact.
𝗣𝗿𝗼𝘀𝗽𝗲𝗿𝗶𝘁𝘆: beyond savings, include support for local economies, driving innovation, and creating long-term societal value with community work and minority owned business programs.
TBL did not remain static, it was recalled by John Elkington in 2018 with the goal to further refine its application.
For Procurement professionals, this means embedding these principles into every decision, from supplier evaluation to contract management and keeping oversight of initiatives and Corporate Social Responsibility programs.
But to truly surface up the value and impact the 3 P's contribute to all three bottom lines, Procurement has to integrate a disciplined data collection and analysis approach into all things the function does.
This challenge requires us to overcome the issue with fragmented systems, lack of standardisation or limited data capture and measurement tools to truly make the impact visible.
❓How is your organisation leveraging TBL principles to drive sustainability and value creation?
❓What tools do you use to measure and automate data collection across supplier networks and supply chain?
Are your procurement practices stuck in a "ONE-SIZE-FITS-ALL" mindset?
We’ve all seen it:
A company with strong sustainability goals tries to enforce the same standards across every supplier, expecting one policy to work in vastly different environments.
But when it comes to sustainable procurement, what if the key isn’t in replication but flexibility?
Take Toyota Motor Corporation, for instance.
Their long-standing relationships with suppliers show that collaboration and visibility drive better results than rigid rules ever could.
In fact, they describe their interactions as “almost intrusive” but in the best way.
This approach ensures both sides remain committed to shared goals, like reducing waste or enhancing resource efficiency, while allowing each partner to bring unique solutions to the table.
Imagine this:
Rather than prescribing exactly how each supplier should reduce packaging waste, set a shared target say, a 15% reduction.
One supplier might use smaller boxes, another might swap materials entirely. Both achieve the goal, but each does it in a way that suits their specific setup.
But here’s the trick:
For this mindset shift to work, transparency is essential. It’s about creating a culture of openness, where every team and supplier feels empowered to innovate toward that common objective.
Consider taking inspiration from the UN Sustainable Development Goals.
Which aligns with your company’s values?
Could you integrate these into your procurement practices to guide not just one supplier, but your entire supply chain toward a long-term vision?
Switching from a prescriptive policy to a shared goal mindset doesn’t just drive sustainability it fosters trust, creativity, and results that everyone can own.
So,
Is it time to rethink how you define “BEST PRACTICES”?