Suppliers in Indonesia have saved up to 4,715 tons of carbon dioxide since 2011, thanks to an energy efficiency program initiated by Adidas Group and the German Organization for International Cooperation — ‘Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit’ (GIZ).
Launched in 2011, “Greening Global Supply Chains — Focus on Energy in Indonesia” aimed to build internal capacities within factories so that they would be able to monitor energy use consistently and analyze the data, propose cost-saving measures and identify and review energy management options and the impact of actions taken.
Adidas undertook a road show with GIZ to meet with four clusters of suppliers in Indonesia, and all of the 16 targeted suppliers joined the project.
The project was designed to have three workshop sessions, followed by a series of technical assistance meetings for all factories involved in the project. Training was conducted in groups, and clusters were geographically categorized.
Adidas says it took roughly four months for each cycle to complete, which allowed factories to have enough time to digest and implement the training materials. After each training, suppliers were given “homework” so that they could implement the newly gained knowledge. Service providers would then check the completion of the homework by visiting suppliers.
The topics covered during the training cycles included energy management, energy audit, financial assessment and monitoring.
Adidas says the program resulted in all involved suppliers now having their own energy teams. Some of them are trying further improving their energy management practices to be able to obtain the ISO 50001 certification in 2014, while other suppliers are trying to get funding from the government and also from UNIDO, to further develop their capacity in energy management.
In its recent 2012 sustainability report, Adidas said it has improved transparency within its supply chain, introduced more sustainable manufacturing processes and improved energy efficiency in many of its stores. All of these initiatives and dozens of others are part of the company’s goal to meet a series of aggressive goals on the environmental, governance and social fronts by 2015.
This summer's Sustainable Brands Innovation Open (our upcoming SBIO London is now accepting entries!) featured a several start-ups providing innovative solutions to help large companies mitigate various risks and improve efficiency throughout their supply chains. Semi-finalist Efficiency Exchange developed an online tool, EEx Charge, to help factories save money on utility costs by increasing efficiency; and semi-finalist LaborVoices, which aggregates worker-sourced information in developing areas and sends the feedback to the companies and other workers, is now using its mobile technology to help Walmart increase transparency throughout its supply chain.
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Founder & Principal Consultant, Hower Impact
Mike Hower is the founder of Hower Impact — a boutique consultancy delivering best-in-class strategic communication advisory and support for corporate sustainability, ESG and climate tech.
Published Sep 9, 2013 2am EDT / 11pm PDT / 7am BST / 8am CEST