2Sustain

In what some are calling a watershed moment in supply chain ethics, Nike, Inc. has agreed to provide financial, medical and vocational support to workers affected by closures at contract supplier factories in Honduras.

Nike announced late last month that it had reached an agreement with the Central General de Trabajadores de Honduras (CGT), representing the former employees of Hugger and Vision Tex factories, and as a result the company has agreed to: (more…)

The General Services Administration (GSA) wants government contractors to track their greenhouse gas emissions or risk losing out on new contracts, according to a recent article at FederalTimes.com .

Under the GSA’s plan, vendors that create an inventory of their overall greenhouse gas emissions will get preferential treatment when bidding on contracts. In addition, companies would get extra credit for tracking emissions throughout their supply chains and getting third-party verification of their findings.

GSA’s 65-page report is currently being reviewed by the Obama administration. (more…)

Earlier this week, DHL and The Logistics Institute – Asia Pacific (TLI – Asia Pacific) of the National University of Singapore (NUS) launched the Sustainable Supply Chain Centre of Asia Pacific (SSCCAP), an initiative to drive sustainable supply chain development in the Asia Pacific region.

The first-of-its-kind in the region, DHLL says the SSCCAP will create practical business tools for the industry to establish benchmarks in areas of sustainable logistics solutions, involving research and education. (more…)

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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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…)