SUPPLY CHAIN -
Many clothes are now made in Turkey because of its proximity to Europe, allowing retailers to fill last-minute orders and get new designs into shops more quickly. But Turkey is a challenging place to do business, especially following the influx of almost 3 million refugees escaping war and bloodshed in Syria. With under-resourced humanitarian assistance, jobs and wages are critical to refugee families’ well-being and security.
SUPPLY CHAIN -
Every day we eat and drink products tainted by forced labor, a new report has found. Agricultural workers in particular, including migrants and women, are some of the poorest paid and most exploited workers in the world. Many work in harsh conditions on isolated farms, where employers can have complete control.
According to KnowTheChain’s latest industry benchmark, the 20 largest global food and beverage companies are failing to address these risks, with an average company score of 30 out of a possible 100.
CLEANTECH -
Following numerous reports of slave labor in seafood supply chains, traceability seems to have (finally) become a priority for the industry.
PRODUCT, SERVICE & DESIGN INNOVATION -
IKEA has been quietly piloting various initiatives across its European stores to see how it can build circularity into its service offering for customers. It’s a bold move, given that consumer-facing circular economy business models are still relatively embryonic, particularly in the retail market.
“Over the coming years, we will support customers to care and repair, rent, share, bring back, and resell their IKEA products to prolong product life,” IKEA’s sustainability manager Jonas Engberg told me in a recent interview.
ORGANIZATIONAL CHANGE -
Sports company PUMA is offering its suppliers in select emerging markets with a new financing program in partnership with the International Finance Corporation (IFC), a member of the World Bank Group. The program is expected to incentivize improvements to suppliers’ social, environmental and health and safety standards, and is a first-of-its-kind financing structure for the apparel industry.
SUPPLY CHAIN -
Today, the Responsible Sourcing Network (RSN), a project of the nonprofit As You Sow, launched its newest initiative, YESS: Yarn Ethically & Sustainably Sourced. YESS will work to eradicate modern slavery in cotton harvesting and yarn production by enabling yarn spinners to identify and eliminate cotton produced with forced labor, and be verified for having fair labor practices. The development of YESS is supported by Humanity United.
CHEMISTRY, MATERIALS & PACKAGING -
The European Organisation for Packaging and the Environment (EUROPEN) and 35 other associations1 representing a wide range of sectors including major consumer goods brands, packaging producers, material producers and extended producer responsibility (EPR) organizations have presented the European Union with a set of joint recommendations for its circular economy legis
SUPPLY CHAIN -
The number of standards for green products has grown in recent years due to increasing market demand for environmentally-preferable products, resulting in concerns over greenwashing and a need for an international standard. ISO has been working on such a standard since 2014, to help organizations make their procurement processes more sustainable.
MARKETING AND COMMS -
Growing consumer demand for healthy, responsibly produced food is leading more and more big food companies to embrace transparency, simplify their product formulas and highlight the integrity of their foods: Examples include Campbell’s and Chipotle, which both launched ‘what’s in my food’ campaigns in the past year; Panera,
SUPPLY CHAIN -
This week, Tiffany & Co. released its sixth annual Sustainability Report, which outlines the jeweler’s continued progress in corporate social responsibility, commitment to the environment, and contributions to the communities across 30+ countries in which it operates.
“Of the many reasons to take pride in Tiffany, none is more important than our long-held commitment to the environment and its people,” said Tiffany CEO Frederic Cumenal. “World-class leadership in sustainability among great luxury brands is rooted in a humble understanding of our impact on, and thus responsibility to, the world.”
WASTE NOT -
More than half of the United States isn’t recycling, and PepsiCo is setting out to help change that with a brand new ad. Designed to motivate people to recycle, the ad depicts a series of humorous examples of people doing activities halfway — like dog-grooming, running a race and mowing the lawn — as a way to remind them to take the extra step to recycle.
BEHAVIOR CHANGE -
Perdue Foods, one of the nation's largest poultry producers, recently unveiled a precedent-setting commitment to improving animal welfare, which involves much higher standards and requirements for its poultry facilities. Citing the "five freedoms," a set of ethical imperatives for farmed animal welfare, 2016 and Beyond: Next Generation of Perdue Commitments to Animal Care outlines the company's efforts to implement on-farm improvements such as environmental enrichment and natural light; curb malicious abuse; and eliminate cruel live-shackle slaughter.
SUPPLY CHAIN -
It was something of a ‘two steps forward, one step back’ kind of week in the ongoing quest for sustainable sourcing of palm oil — potentially the most prolific and embattled ingredient in the consumer goods industry.
First, five multinationals active in Singapore — Unilever, Danone, Ayam Brand, IKEA and Wildlife Reserves Singapore — came together this week to drive an increase in the amount of sustainable palm oil sourced in the country, with the goal of delivering products that have not contributed to haze pollution or deforestation to consumers.
SUPPLY CHAIN -
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 daily. For example, most Bangladeshi apparel employees work 14-16 hours a day, seven days a week for extremely low wages. In Cambodia, the ILO reports that one in five women say sexual harassment led to a threatening work environment.
CHEMISTRY, MATERIALS & PACKAGING -
Today, HP Inc. announced several new commitments with the release of its latest Sustainability Report. The company met the 20 percent emissions reduction targets it set for its operations and supply chain five years early, and set three new goals for 2020.
SUPPLY CHAIN -
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).
Fairphone began in 2010 as a campaign to increase awareness for the use of conflict minerals in consumer electronics. Six years later, the social enterprise has released two smartphones and more than 100,000 Fairphone owners have joined the movement, but this cause is more relevant than ever.
SUPPLY CHAIN -
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 biodiversity issues, and reducing water consumption in cotton agriculture.
PRODUCT, SERVICE & DESIGN INNOVATION -
Picture a big bowl of sustainable mac and cheese. Cheesy and delicious, made with non-GMO, organic ingredients – 100 percent real cheese and no artificial flavors, synthetic colors or preservatives - this is a satisfying dinner you can feel good about eating. Hopefully you’re thinking of Annie’s iconic orange box. For more than 25 years, Annie’s Homegrown has married business and social responsibility to produce high-quality products that consumers love.
COLLABORATION -
In this Tuesday afternoon panel, representatives from Ford, MillerCoors and Hershey described how their companies are leveraging a variety of partnerships to innovate for sustainability across their global supply chains.
In 2014, Ford launched its innovative Partnership for a Cleaner Environment (PACE) program, which focuses on collaborating with suppliers to reach the company’s aggressive environmental targets.
COLLABORATION -
This dynamic Tuesday afternoon panel dissected Global Supply Chains, taking forward by The Sustainability Consortium's (TSC) newly released impact report, Greening Global Supply Chains: From Blind Spots To Hot Spots To Action. Robin Raj, founder and Executive Creative Director of Citizen Group, moderated the panel and framed the session with the question: "Why does greening global supply chains represent one of the most potent models for change for sustainability?”