2Sustain

Earlier this week, Greenpeace upped the ante in its sustainable seafood campaign by explicitly targeting Costco with a press release and a less-than-flattering YouTube video.

Greenpeace, which has published a sustainable seafood guide since 2008 (see an earlier post here), says Costco lacks a transparent and meaningful sustainable seafood policy and has continually proven to be one of the poorest performing big box stores in the United States in terms of seafood sustainability. (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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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…)

The Denver-based restaurant chain Quiznos has established a supplier code of conduct that the company says will help it address a wide range of ethical concerns, including improving animal welfare and farm-worker conditions.

For example, Quiznos plans to use the new supplier code of conduct to: (more…)

The Sportlifestyle company Puma wants to enhance transparency and improve social and working conditions in its supply chain, and so the company is going to provide training about sustainability reporting to its strategic suppliers.

Puma says 20 of its strategic suppliers  –which account for more than two thirds of all Puma products – will receive GRI-certified training on transparent measurement and reporting of their sustainability performance using the GRI G3 Guidelines. The training, part of  the Global Action Network for Transparency in the Supply Chain program (GANTSCh), will be conducted by GRI Certified Training Partners, and during the reporting process, the suppliers will be supported by regional sustainability consultants.

The training is scheduled to start in 2010, and the suppliers’ first sustainability reports are expected to be released in 2011/2012. (more…)