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.
Eleven multinationals to pilot scheme demanding carbon data from key suppliers 22 Jan 2008
Carbon Disclosure Project warns that suppliers will have to get used to requests for carbon data from their multinational customers 01 May 2008
Ceres report urges banks to become key players in driving the world economy forward on a greener path 11 Jan 2008
Building giant details plans to develop three more commercially viable zero carbon homes over next three years 16 May 2008
Toyota claims the iconic hybrid vehicle has helped cut global carbon emissions by approximately 4.5m tonnes in the last decade 16 May 2008
More news
After two decades of development countless nanotechnologies are fast approaching commercial viability – and they have the potential to redefine the clean tech sector 16 May 2008
Green business courses are springing up think and fast, but as Vanessa Crossgrove Fry warns it could still be several years before we see Green MBAs take their place in the largest firms 14 May 2008 More in-depth
Post your comment
Send an email to the Business Green editor at feedback@businessgreen.com
