Supply Sustainability

So we see in every stage of the supply chain there exists social, environmental, and economic impacts. This can be sensed from the life cycle of products & services that we utilize or consume in our daily life. The materials which are sourced from environments are processed or manufactured in the factory and are distributed to users. And what the user usually do; uses the products according to their need and discard the rest which are recycled i.e. the materials again return to the environment impacting socially and economically. In addition, governance, or the accountability of organizations to their stakeholders for their conduct, is important at every stage throughout the supply chain.

Do you think we have to preserve this chain for the betterment of the business and society as a whole? Are we not in the need of adding value to the system? 

So here is the process or principle of sustaining the supply chain or rather we call it Supply Chain Sustainability (SCS) put forward by the UN Global Compact.

So what is supply chain sustainability is all about. Well, it is defined as “the management of environmental social and economic impacts, and the encouragement of good governance practices, throughout the lifecycles of goods and services”. The objective of supply chain sustainability is to create, protect and grow long-term environmental, social, and economic value for all stakeholders involved in bringing products and services to market. Through supply chain sustainability, companies protect the long term viability of their business and secure a social license to operate.

The ten principles of SCS which were devised by the Global Compact is an output of discussion of business leaders around the globe, is broadly based on the pillars of (i) Human Rights (ii) Labor (iii) Environment and (iv) Anti Corruption.

Principle 1: Businesses should support and respect the protection of internationally proclaimed human rights. Companies have a responsibility to respect human rights. The baseline responsibility is not to infringe on the rights of others. It also needs to promote a broad range of human rights such as gender equality and access to education and health.

Principle 2: To make sure that they are not complicit in human rights abuses. In addition, businesses can take steps to support and promote the realization of human rights, and there are good business reasons to do so.

Principle 3: Businesses should uphold the freedom of association and the effective recognition of the right to collective bargaining.

Principle 4: To eliminate all forms of forced and compulsory labor. Labor conditions in offices, in factories, on farms, and at natural resource extraction sites such as mines, particularly in the developing world, often fall significantly below international standards and national regulatory requirements and can lead to serious human rights abuses.

Principle 5: To the effective abolition of child labor. Measures need to be developed by the companies in their supply chain to provide freedom of children of labor.

Principle 6: the elimination of discrimination in respect of employment and occupation. Workers at times suffer from other labor rights abuses, including excessive work hours, degrading treatment by employers, and inhibited movement. In order to avoid complicity in abuses, businesses should seek to ensure that they do not cause the rights of workers and others affected by their supply chain to be infringed upon. The rights of all peoples to work in safe and healthy working conditions are critically important as well.

Principle 7: Businesses should support a precautionary approach to environmental challenges. These challenges can include toxic waste, water pollution, loss of biodiversity, deforestation, long-term damage to ecosystems, hazardous air emissions as well as high greenhouse gas emissions, and energy use.

Principle 8: Undertake initiatives to promote greater environmental responsibility. Companies should engage with suppliers to improve environmental impacts, by applying the precautionary approach.

Principle 9: Encourage the development and diffusion of environmentally friendly technologies. Companies along with suppliers in their supply chain should start promoting greater environmental responsibility with the usage of clean technologies.

Principle 10: Businesses should work against corruption in all its forms, including extortion and bribery. The significant corruption risks in the supply chain include procurement fraud and suppliers who engage in corrupt practices involving governments. The direct costs of this corruption are considerable, including product quality, but are often dwarfed by indirect costs related to management time and resources spent dealing with issues such as legal liability and damage to a company’s reputation. Companies that engage with their supply chains through meaningful anti-corruption programs can improve product quality, reduce fraud and related costs, enhance their reputations for honest business conduct, improve the environment for business and create a more sustainable platform for future growth.

Hope these principles will guide you in your business practices by building a cleaner supply chain and thus creating a better society to live in.