Supply Chain
How organizations are working to address the myriad social, environmental and operational issues that can arise in complex supply chains
A 'Symphony' of Worker Feedback Adding New Level of Transparency to Supply Chains
Supply Chain Transparency: The Challenge Enough has been said about the importance of transparent supply chains. Today, it is unacceptable for a global brand to ignore fair labor practices. Yet, labor violations continue to occur around the world dai... View More
5 Food Commodities Produce More GHGs than Any Country Apart from China, U.S.
New research commissioned by Oxfam shows that rice, soy beans, corn, wheat and palm oil together lead to more greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions than any country’s individual footprint, with the exception of emissions giants China and the United States... View More
Fairphone Achieves Traceable Supply for All Four Conflict Minerals; Your Move, Industry
Today, Fairphone announced it is adding conflict-free tungsten from Rwanda into its supply chain. With this achievement, Fairphone has successfully managed to transparently source all four of the conflict minerals (tin, tantalum, tungsten and gold). ... View More
Of Top Cotton Users, Over 75% ‘Appear to Do Virtually Nothing’ on Cotton Sustainability
More sustainable cotton has become more widely available thanks to collaborations such as the Better Cotton Initiative (BCI) and other programs focused on minimizing the use of highly hazardous pesticides, improving working conditions, addressing bio... View More
New Understanding Around the ROI of a Sustainable Supply Chain
When it comes to developing sustainability programs, most brands begin by adding: by introducing “green” practices to their workplace or a recycling component to their manufacturing process. But to truly have impact, sustainability practitioners ... View More
SPLC: How to Drive Human Health, Environmental and Social Impacts with Institutional Purchasing
What could be a dry technical presentation on supply chain metrics is immediately derailed, as presenter Scot Case, Training Developer for the Sustainable Purchasing Leadership Council (SPLC), elects to depart from the predetermined slide show, and i... View More
Targeting a Trillion-Dollar Impact: Applying the Work of The Sustainability Consortium
As a creative guy sitting between the manager of recycling for a major retailer and a supply chain expert for a large clothing brand, I certainly feel like I am bringing the knife to the metrics gunfight in this session. But the sheer corporate heft ... View More
RAN Finds Japanese Companies Misreporting Sustainability, Linked to Deforestation
NGO Rainforest Action Network (RAN) claims it has found many Japanese companies are either “systematically misreporting compliance” under Japan’s Corporate Governance Code, or have a “fundamental lack of understanding as to what constitutes m... View More
NIKE's New Distribution Center to Make European Operations More Efficient, Agile, Sustainable
NIKE, Inc. has unveiled the latest expansion of its European Logistics Campus in Belgium, to accelerate its drive toward “the supply chain of the future.” The expansion will make Nike’s European operations more efficient, more responsive and mo... View More
BSCI, Sedex Launch New Tools, Join Forces in the Fight Against Human Trafficking
BSCI (Business Social Compliance Initiative) and Sedex have been competitors in the past, but this week, the business-driven initiative and non-profit organization signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to reduce duplication of effort while build... View More
McDonald’s, M&S, Birds Eye Sign Landmark Commitment to Protect Key Arctic Region from Cod Fishing
Leading seafood brands, major UK retail chains and some of the world’s largest fishing companies have struck a groundbreaking deal to protect a key Arctic region from industrial fishing for cod. ... View More
6 More Global Fashion Leaders Join CanopyStyle to Help Ensure Forest-Free Rayon by 2017
Canadian forest-conservation NGO Canopy has announced six new brand partnerships in its successful CanopyStyle initiative, through which more than 65 major fashion brands, designers and retailers have pledged to end the use of ancient and endangered ... View More
Kashi Launches Scheme to Help Reward, Incentivize Transition to Organic Farmland
According to the USDA, consumer demand for organic foods has grown by double-digits every year since the 1990s — but organic acreage has not kept up. Today, only about one percent of US farmland is organic and farmers looking to transition to organ... View More
FSC Certification Creates Competitive Advantages, Raises Standards in Forest Management
Businesses face myriad ongoing challenges: Apart from the day-to-day fluctuations in market dynamics, entrepreneurs must deal with economies of scale, inter- and intra-market competition and regulatory compliance. Yet some voluntary compliance can un... View More
Strong Partnerships Key to 'Greening' Your Supply Chain in Developing Markets
A product will go through multiple points of contact in its lifecycle. From the designer to the manufacturer to transport to the consumer and end of life, each component has an impact. Environmentally and socially responsible supply chain management ... View More
Europeans Want Cheap, Pesticide-Free Food; Industry Campaign Says It Can’t Be Done
Do Europeans have unreasonable expectations for the agriculture industry? New poll results suggest that 91 percent of consumers think food should remain affordable, but just 54 percent think that farmers should be able to use pesticides to keep price... View More
Industry Giant GAR to Fully Trace Its Palm Oil Supply Chain to the Plantation by 2020
One of the world’s largest palm oil companies, Golden Agri-Resources (GAR), has published a 4-year plan to trace its entire supply to the growers’ plantations. Earlier this year, GAR mapped its entire supply chain to 489 individual mills, and pla... View More
Investors: Apparel Workers in Bangladesh Still at Risk
This Sunday, April 24th, will mark the third anniversary of the tragic Rana Plaza factory collapse in Bangladesh, when workplace health and safety failures cost 1,134 people their lives and injured many others. ... View More
3rd Fashion Revolution Will See Activists in 84 Countries Asking Brands #WhoMadeMyClothes
This year, Fashion Revolution’s annual campaign has expanded into a week-long series of events featuring hundreds of activities, stunts and social experiments across 84 countries worldwide. Throughout Fashion Revolution Week, April 18th to 24th, co... View More
Unilever, Kellogg, Mars Drop Major Palm Oil Supplier After RSPO Revokes Its Certification
Six years after NGOs released a scathing report on Malaysian palm oil producer IOI Group, the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO) decided to suspend IOI last Monday. ... View More
