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.
Experts claim willingness to reward executives for cutting carbon emissions provides "litmus test" for firms' seriousness about climate change 05 Feb 2009
Latest Carbon Disclosure Project report turns spotlight on suppliers to the public sector 04 Mar 2009
A third of suppliers responding to Carbon Disclosure Project believe climate change poses no risk to their business 05 Mar 2009
Latest report from Carbon Disclosure Project suggests UK firms' climate change strategies have an edge over international rivals, but there is still plenty more work to do 08 Oct 2008
Survey of public sector IT managers reveals deep concern over ability to deliver on carbon-neutral targets 03 Jul 2009
From record-breaking solar panels to the International Renewable Energy Agency's new home, we round up the top stories from the past week 03 Jul 2009
Well, I hope they got a no win, no fee deal. I don't like being cynical (it's more of a congenital thing)... 03 Jul 2009






