2Sustain

Top retailers like Walmart, Tesco and Marks & Spencer are asking their suppliers to report on sustainability programs and provide customers with “greener” products, and now consumer goods companies are scrambling for ways to respond to these rapidly evolving lists of requirements.

Yesterday, Five Winds International, one of North America’s largest and most experienced consulting firms devoted to sustainability management, launched a website to help. The company researched retailers’ programs and developed specific tools to help suppliers understand how to get ahead of retailers’ requirements.
Designed specifically for brand managers and sustainability managers at consumer goods manufacturers, the new website includes:

• a free on-line calculator for suppliers who want to tally their score on Walmart’s Supplier Sustainability Assessment questionnaire.

• Retail Ready Insight™, a new tool for brand managers trying to understand how to get started with a sustainability program. (It provides a fast gap assessment and recommended action steps.)

• regular blog updates on key issues.

• A three-part white paper series, to be released on the webpage over the next two months, summarizing Five Winds’ research and providing strategic guidance and tactical steps for consumer goods suppliers.

“Ten years ago, we were working mostly with top consumer brands and niche “green” companies to understand sustainability issues, improve product performance, and help them grow their business and succeed in the marketplace,” says Five Winds’ Managing Director Dr. James Fava. “Now retailers are asking everyone to measure up to a much higher standard, and many companies are finding they need to catch up.”

The new webpage and first white paper article can be found here.