On Thursday, Swiss specialty chemicals giant Clariant announced it is the newest member of “Together for Sustainability” (TfS), a chemical industry initiative founded in 2011 aimed at improving sustainability practices within its supply chains.
Clariant joins AkzoNobel, BASF, Bayer, Evonik Industries, Henkel, Lanxess and Solvay in jointly operating global supplier assessments and third-party audits, by sharing scorecard ratings within the TfS member group on a web-based collaborative platform, eliminating the need for each company to conduct its own. Assessing sustainability requirements through the program, TfS aims to lower risks in the procurement process while reducing the burden for suppliers by allowing them to participate in one comprehensive program.
Mathias Lütgendorf, member of Clariant’s Executive Committee, underlined: “Corporate Sustainability is a core element of our corporate strategy. With the TfS membership, we enhance our procurement and supply chain activities into our corporate sustainability strategy.”
“Joining the TfS initiative, Clariant confirms the commitment to sustainability in procurement and to further improve quality standards in our industry supply chain,” added Norbert Merklein, Clariant’s Head of Group Procurement Services. “With TfS, we provide a platform to enhance our supplier selection process, and to guarantee supply and supplier risk management.”
Industry-wide collaboration is happily becoming more common, as global players pool their influence to effect improvements in their supply chains. In December, Coke, Danone, Ford, Heinz, Nestlé, Nike, P&G, Unilever and WWF launched the Bioplastic Feedstock Alliance, to support the responsible development of plastics made from plant material and promote a more sustainable future for the bioplastics industry; in January, I:CO and its retail partners H&M, The North Face, American Eagle Outfitters and Levi Strauss & Co., along with the Cradle to Cradle Products Innovation Institute and Goodwill Industries, launched its first-ever I:CO City initiative with the City of San Francisco, creating a public, private and non-profit infrastructure to encourage and enable residents and businesses to recycle textile-related items; and just this week, the European Automotive Working Group on Supply Chain Sustainability, comprised of 14 global automakers, announced a landmark agreement on a set of supplier criteria on issues including human rights, environment, working conditions and business ethics.
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Published Mar 28, 2014 4am EDT / 1am PDT / 8am GMT / 9am CET