COVID-19 Exposes Supply Chain Vulnerabilities that Cause Food Insecurity

The cornavirus pandemic has highlighted supply chain weaknesses that are causing food shortages. As explained in an FAO report, the global pandemic is threatening supply lines leading to concerns about food insecurity. "A protracted pandemic crisis could quickly put a strain on the food supply chains, a complex web of interactions involving farmers, agricultural inputs, processing plants, shipping, retailers and more," the report said. In a March paper the U.N. Committee on World Food Security (CFS) warned that Covid-19 will cause heightened instability in global food supply. The pandemic also prompted the Food and Land Use Coalition to issue a call to action for world leaders over what they describe as a humanitarian crisis requiring urgent coordinated action.

Online Event - Harnessing Digital Solutions to Improve Product Sustainability and Supply Chain Transparency

Harnessing Digital Solutions to Improve Product Sustainability and Supply Chain Transparency will take place on Tuesday April 21, 2020. Online events brought to you by EL and EMT. Registered attendees receive exclusive access to slide decks and/or custom white papers (provided by most clients).

This webinar to understand how digital transformation can enable an organization to address these complexities through cross-functional collaboration, process optimization, and a management systems approach.

Get Ready for Supply Chain Sustainability Guidance and Standards

Sustainability is a large and expanding trend and procurement has been a major part of this trend. Efforts to adopt more sustainable supply chains have been around for years. We now have ample information to confidently make the claim that businesses practicing sustainability are leading the way forward. Procurement and supply chains are key components of sustainability.

However, a lack of standardization and guidance have made this transition difficult for some. That is rapidly changing as we have seen more guidance and now forthcoming standardization.

Webinar - Valuing Natural Capital Assets in the Supply Chain

This Webinar will take place on Thursday, April 10th 2014, 9:00am - 10:00am PDT/12:00pm - 1:00pm EDT/ 6:00pm - 7:00pm Paris- Brussels Online Meeting.

The 21st century has seen the rise of a globally connected community and with it comes additional layers of what will need to be measured and managed for all companies to succeed. Business leaders will still focus on the basics of profit, revenue and market share, but also required is broader visibility into how natural capital assets are consumed in the supply chain to build brand and manage risk.

Event - Responsible Sourcing Summit 2014

The Responsible Sourcing Summit 2014 will take place on March 5-6, 2014 at the Hotel Monaco, 501 Geary St., San Francisco, California. Listen to subject matter experts in the field of supply chain sustainability and network with other professionals.

Some of the topics that will be covered at this summit include:

Examining the Impact of Recruitment Practices on Human Rights
Taking a Management Systems Approach to Continuous Improvement
Providing Traceability within Supply Chains: Conflict Minerals and Other Raw Materials
Lean Manufacturing - Understanding the Benefits of Production Efficiencies
Implementing Sustainable Chemistry in Supply Chains Addressing Fire Safety in Facilities

Sustainable Supply Chain Transparency: Strategic Analysis and Best Practices

Download the Ethical Corporation's complimentary 10-page briefing that contains strategic analysis around key areas of sustainable supply chains.

In this document you will discover how to create a transparent supply chain that delivers results.

With wide-ranging perspectives from companies and NGOs across a variety of industries and countries this analysis will give you a great overview of best practice in supply chain transparency:

Event - Sustainable Supply Chain Summit

The 8th annual Sustainable Supply Chain Summit will take place on October 7-8, 2013, in London. Discover how to create a transparent supply chain that delivers results. Drive CR, transparency and cost efficiency down your value chain.

The event will be attended by 150 people including 25+ corporate top executives, sharing best practice and discussing the ways to address the biggest supply chain challenges in 2013.

Overview

•Make supply chain sustainability a priority throughout your value chain, by engaging internally with buyers functions, middle management through to top level decision makers

Event - Supply Chain Sustainability Forum & Networking Luncheon

The Supply Chain Sustainability event will take place on Tuesday, July 30, 2013 from 8:00 AM to 1:30 PM (EDT) at the Rochester Institute of Technology, Slaughter Hall – CIMS Conference Center, 111 Lomb Memorial Drive, Rochester, New York. The event will address sustainability from a suppliers point of view. It will specifically address what customers want. The event is sponsored by the New York State Pollution Prevention Institute in partnership with Nixon Peabody LLP. 

Event - Sustainable Supply Chain Summit

The 8th Annual Sustainable Supply Chain Summit will take place on October 7-8, 2013 in London, UK. The summit will feature more than 30 expert speakers from the world’s leading brands in retail, apparel, food, cosmetics, electronics, pharmaceuticals, chemicals from the UK, all over Europe and North America Addressing the key issues that matter in 2013 - Successful internal and external engagement with buyers, middle management and top level decision makers; how to go beyond Tier 1 suppliers; introduce on-site factory training; reduce cost through applying resource efficiency programs in your supply chain and more Best practice from Unilever, IKEA, Sainsbury’s, AkzoNobel, Mitsubishi Electric, and BlackBerry.

This Summit offers a fully participatory experience: besides banning power-point, 70 percent of the event’s time is now devoted to round tables and working groups, to ensure YOU are at the centre of the debate and get your questions answered.

Survey of Executives Views on Sustainable Supply Chains

Here is an overview of PwC‘s 2013 global supply chain survey, Next-generation supply chains: Efficient, fast and tailored. From May to July 2012, PwC surveyed 503 supply chain executives. Some 44 percent of them hold senior management positions, while 34 percent hold C-level posts. Here is a breakdown starting with the 42 percent of respondents who rated sustainability as highly important:

• 87 percent named optimizing their carbon footprint as their top priority for green adherence in their supply chain,
• 87 percent said that it’s best to reach an agreement with their suppliers on adhering to the highest ethical standards.
• 81 percent favor collaborating with suppliers to create a responsible supply chain footprint and procurement framework.

Building Resilience to Supply Chain Disruptions due to Climate Change

Anticipating problems associated with climate change and planning appropriate strategic responses are critical elements of contemporary business. Companies need look ahead to identify environmental vulnerabilities attributable to climate change and find ways of addressing them. As climate change worsens supply chain disruptions can be expected to increase.

The global nature of modern day procurement means that things like extreme weather events in one part of the world can have far reaching impacts. The destructive effects of climate change are already reverberating up and down supply chains around the world the disruptions associated with climate change are almost certainly going to get far worse. Some estimates indicate we are going to see a six degree rise in temperature by the end of the century.

The Sustainable Supply Chain Imperative

As climate change worsens supply chain disruptions can be expected to increase. The global nature of modern day supply chains means that events in one part of the world can have far reaching impacts. The destructive effects of climate change reverberate up and down supply chains and wreak havoc on procurement, production and logistical tactics.

There is an increasing need for companies to assess, evaluate and optimize their supply chain operations in order to reduce their carbon footprint, avoid disruptions from climate-related events, and meet the growing requirements from governments and customers.

Webinar - Why GRI G4 Will Trigger New Directions In Sustainability Reporting

The complimentary one hour webinar "Why GRI G4 Will Trigger New Directions In Sustainability Reporting" will take place on Thursday, May 30, 2013 at 4:00 pm GMT (11:00 am Eastern Daylight Time).  In May 2013, the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) launches the G4 guidance for voluntary sustainability reporting – the first full update in the framework used for seven years by more than 5,000 firms. At the same time stock exchanges around the world are implementing guidelines agreed at Rio+20, a handful of governments have imposed new mandatory GHG and LCA reporting rules, and the accounting profession continues to push the International Integrated Reporting Council (IIRC) as well as the more recently launched Sustainability Accounting Standards Board (SASB).

Faced with this flurry of activity, what are the new best practices for sustainability reporting? How should heads of sustainability link mandatory reporting, voluntary frameworks and financial reporting?

Webinar - Myths & Realities of Energy Purchasing

Energy Manager Today is offering a one-hour energy management webinar on Wednesday, February 13, 2013,11am PST/2:00 PM EST.  Titled "Myths & Realities of Energy Purchasing," this webinar will debunk common myths and show you how to engage with the best providers that offer flexible products and timely market insights to achieve the most for your energy spend.

2012 Review: Sustainable Supply Chains

This review of sustainable supply chains in 2012 was written by Julie Urlaub and published on Wednesday, December 26, 2012. 

When you toss a pebble into a pond, a series of concentric ripples propagate out extending far beyond the point of entry. With a number of business sustainability pebbles being tossed into the pond today, one can’t help but wonder what effects the resulting ripples might have on the supply chain. With legislative pressures and shifting consumer expectations positioned to effect business consumption, are the supply chains ready to respond? Will your business ride the high or low of the ‘green’ bullwhip in 2013?

Webinar: Finding the Right Energy Management Software Match

On Thursday, January 17, join Janet Lin, Senior Manager, Verdantix for a 60 minute webinar based on unique, ground-breaking research. Live Verdantix webinars are free of charge. Simply register before the number of limited places runs out. The energy management software market emerged in the 1990s in response to corporate challenges to manage increasing energy prices, risk from energy market volatility and rapidly evolving energy and carbon regulations.

Heads of energy, facilities, finance and sustainability who are looking for enterprise software to support their energy management activities should join this webinar to understand how to shortlist suppliers. Based on responses to a 134 point questionnaire and interviews with 15 buyers of energy management software from firms with revenues of over $1 billion.

Sustainable Value Chain Management (Event)

On September 19th 2012, a workshop on supply chain management, in London, UK. This workshop is designed to enable you to detect and control carbon hotspots in your supply chain. Many organizations already recognize the importance of engaging their supply chain in order to increase efficiency and improve profitability, but most do not know where to start or how to make their suppliers start taking real action. Key challenges faced by organizations can include; not knowing how to footprint or what the baseline data is, what targets to set, who to address about supply chain management; and how cost effective reductions can be practically achieved.

Responsible Procurement Strategy (e-book)

A lot of companies do not know what they want to gain by investing in a Responsible Procurement Program. They are simply missing the strategic scope. In addition to pilot projects and a risk based approach to responsible procurement management companies need to ask what they can gain by investing in a Responsible Procurement approach. This complimentary e-book provides some key questions that must be answered to develop a strategic approach to responsible procurement management.

Having a plan improves the chances of reaching the target. Responsible Procurement is moving from "compliance" to "performance". From a consumer point of view much it is important to initiate actions which drive actual change. The brand has to have a stand. And the supply chain plays a vital role in creating the architecture behind.

UN Supply Chain Sustainability Tool Introduced at Rio+20

A supply chain sustainability tool was officially introduced at the Rio+20 Corporate Sustainability Forum on June 16. The tool was launched on June 12, 2012 by the UN Global Compact, in collaboration with BSR and Maplecroft. It is known as the UN Global Compact Quick Self-Assessment and Learning Tool, which is an online platform developed to help companies evaluate their approach to supply chain sustainability and identify areas for improvement. The scale, scope and severity of global economic, political, social and environmental challenges is making supply chain sustainability a topic of growing importance to business, governments and civil society; but effective and responsible supply chain management requires a coordinated response from all sectors of society.

Sustainable Supply Chain Data Book Q2

Supply Chain Executives Need data at their fingertips that will help them make smart business decisions. This free report includes opportunity-focused environmental, sustainability and energy-related supply chain data with an emphasis on competitive advantages and ROI. It also includes 20 data charts and accompanying analysis from Environmental Leader.