Two thirds of firms failing to green supply chains

Report warns firms risking higher costs and regulatory crackdown by failing to address suppliers' emissions

Despite high profile initiatives from firms such as Wal-Mart and HP to limit the environmental impact of their supply chains, the majority of large firms still have no green supply chain policy in place.

That is the conclusion of a major new survey from management consultancy Bearing Point, which found that almost two thirds of firms had taken no action to cut the environmental impact of their supply chain.

The survey of over 600 directors at companies with turnovers in excess of $100m found that just 35 per cent had an explicit green supply chain strategy, although 83 per cent claimed to factor environmental factors into decisions. A lack of information about green supply chain best practices and regulations was identified as the main reason for the relatively low adoption of green supply chain policies.

Jonathon Porritt, founder-director of green group Forum for the Future, expressed disappointment at the findings, arguing that a company’s willingness to address the environmental impact of its supply chain infrastructure and partners represented "one of the most telling tests of whether or not a company is really serious about addressing today’s corporate responsibility challenges" .

BearingPoint’s director of supply chain services in Europe Laurence Dupras insisted that those firms failing to address supply chain emissions were missing opportunities to cut logistics costs and limit regulatory risks. "The question for businesses is whether to act now, on their own terms, or wait to be forced to do so later, either by legislation or, just as likely, a need to catch up with the competition," he said.

The survey comes just weeks after the Carbon Disclosure Project issued a call for more firms to sign up to its supply chain reporting initiative. The scheme which is currently being trialled by 11 multinationals, including Dell, L'Oreal, Tesco and Unilever, requires firms to request carbon footprint information from suppliers and promote emission reduction measures across the supply chain.