2Sustain

Despite the economic downturn, companies are continuing to work on improving supply chain sustainability. However, it’s clear that financial ROI is becoming more important than ever before.

In the 2010 North American Sustainable Supply Chain Report, recently released by eyefortransport, financial ROI is now the second highest driver of supply chain sustainability –catapulting from its ranking as the ninth highest driver in 2009.

The survey, conducted in March and April 2010, polled 600 business professionals. 48 percent of these represented shippers.  29 percent represented 3PLs. And, 23 percent represented supply chain solution providers.
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A compromise deal that will ban illegal timber from Europe is near completion, some seven years after the EU first planned to crack down on the black market for wood products.

According to Greenpeace, the new agreement –which still needs the formal agreement of the full Parliament and Council before it can become law –will send a clear signal to the market that illegal timber is prohibited and ultimately, drive systemic changes in the forestry industry.

“If this law is passed, illegal timber will be banned from Europe,” explains Greenpeace EU forest policy director, Sebastien Risso . ’The world’s largest market is about to shut its gates to companies profiting from illegal trafficking and forest destruction. The black market for wood products is often run by criminals fueling conflict, robbing governments of revenue and causing irreversible environmental destruction. With this law, the black economy for wood products in Europe will be closed for business, leveling the playing field so companies are better able to act sustainably.”

The new law will mean that companies in Europe will be required to (more…)

Because carbon accounting is both technical and complex, the trucking industry needs to adopt a more standardized approach to improve reporting of its greenhouse gas emissions, according to the American Transportation Research Institute (ATRI).

The ATRI reviewed and analyzed a range of greenhouse gas reporting tools and emissions models to assess their consistency and applicability to the trucking industry, and the organization found that current methods of carbon accounting are often inadequate for today’s U.S. trucking fleets. (more…)

Coca-Cola Enterprises (CCE) recently consolidated three facilities in the Northwest (Tualatin, The Dalles and Woodland, Washington) into a single plant in Wilsonville, Oregon, and the company says this move has helped it maximize efficiencies in its supply chain while minimizing its environmental footprint overall.

How? The company points out that by creating additional storage space for Coca-Cola products in Wilsonville, it can ship Dasani water directly from the bottling facility instead of having it bottled, shipped to other facilities for storage and then shipped to retailers. According to CCE, reconfiguring this part of the production cycle will save an average of 112 truckloads and 79,000 truck miles every year. (more…)

Many companies today are focusing on improving energy efficiencies in their supply chains as a way to mitigate risks, lower costs, improve compliance and meet new expectations from a variety of corporate stakeholders.

But, improving energy efficiencies in the supply chain is challenging –and if your suppliers are located in China, that “challenging” task can sometimes seem nearly impossible.

China, which emits more greenhouse gasses than any other country, is notorious for factories with poor energy and environmental performance. In fact, researchers now estimate that many Chinese factories use about 10 times more energy than their counterparts in Japan. And, remedies to improve factory energy-efficiencies don’t come easy there. In China, poor factory performance there is tied into challenges related to the country’s regulatory structure, the professional energy-service-provider industry, and lack of information about opportunities and standards for measuring emissions.

Is there anything you can do to help your suppliers begin moving in the right direction? (more…)