How important is a Green Supply-Chain in North America?

We certainly hear a lot about the importance of reducing the amount of carbon our species is releasing into the atmosphere. But we don’t hear much about what this really means to our profession: in other words, how important is a ‘green’ Supply-Chain in North America?

To answer this question we recently sent out a 14-question survey to hundreds of Supply-Chain professionals. The results are in and you may find them interesting.

Three Key Findings.

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When Warehousing Goes Green

When considering the greening of any supply chain it is easy to ignore the impact of warehousing and distribution centres.
Transport miles are often shown to potential consumers, but what about the environmental cost of storage?

Understandably, the main focus in distribution centres is often the streamlining of the distribution process. This video of the Ocado distribution centre makes this optimisation geek very excited. But it is not difficult, and not necessarily expensive, to improve the green credentials of your warehousing. Read the rest of When Warehousing Goes Green » » »

The Carbon Benefits of Recycled Materials

The benefits of avoiding extraction and primary processing are usually significant, even when collection, transport and reprocessing of recycled material is taken into account.

An increasing range of recycled products are coming onto the market, such as glass, steel, aluminium, plastics and paper. Usually calculating the carbon benefit is reasonably straightforward. As the final products must perform to similar standards (whether from virgin or recycled materials) in order to compete in the market place, the carbon footprint during their ‘use phase’ will also be very similar.

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Sustainable supply-chain at risk: the US drought example

Weekly drought figures released  by the US Drought Monitor show the situation continues to be a problem with approximately 50% of continental US now suffering from a moderate drought or worse.

Despite recent precipitation bringing welcome relief and downgrading of the drought status in some parts of the country, the long term picture shows challenges remain.

Changing weather patterns and increasing likelihood of extreme weather events are pushing sustainable supply chain management up the agenda for many companies. The US drought is just one of many examples of how changing weather patterns can create clear and present supply chain risks.

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Sustainability Trends

We have picked up a few tips recently from participating in a Conference Board of Canada webinar where sustainability thought leader and governance specialist, Coro Strandberg discussed the drivers and trends of CSR governance and shared emerging best practices in the Canadian context.

We have also been reviewing the Carbon Disclosure Project and other reports to highlight some of the key points that are useful to the supply chain profession.

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Cutting Carbon in the Supply Chain

For many manufactured products, the majority of their carbon footprint comes from energy used in extracting, refining, processing, manufacturing and transportation.

There are several options for reducing the carbon footprint:
· redesign manufacturing process; use alternative raw materials and new technologies to find energy efficiency savings
· shorten supply chains; reduce CO2 from transport
· Use / purchase renewable energy; renewable energy produces (almost) zero carbon
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New Tool to Measure (and Manage) the carbon footprint of your supply Chain

Reducing the amount of carbon imbedded in the raw materials we source can be a very good thing – especially if it helps us meet our Corporate Social Responsibility goals as supply-chain professionals (not to mention helping the planet).

Virescent and ProPurchaser have just developed a tool to measure and manage the carbon footprint of a supply chain. And, we are pleased to announce that our blog readers are invited to take out a free, 3-month trial.

Carbon Disclosure Project Supply Chain Report

The 2012-13 annual Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP) Supply Chain report has been recently published. There is a glut of useful information within the 22 pages, and here are some of the highlights.

Firstly, the report concludes that climate change is creating very real supply chain risks, with 70% of respondents identifying at least one serious risk to their business due to the impacts of climate change. This makes sober reading where ever you are in the value chain of a product and emphasizes the need for a risk based approach to sustainable supply chains.

Read the rest of Carbon Disclosure Project Supply Chain Report » » »

The Multiplier Effect

If you want to really use your buying power to make a environmental difference, make sure that any “green” criteria for vendor selection are widely publicized so that your suppliers’ competitors hear about them too.
In this way, encouraging a change in one supplier can have a “multiplier effect” on many others.

via Negotiating Nugget | Propurchaser.

Few Canadian companies disclose environmental practices

Major pension funds are demanding more environmental data about the businesses they’ve invested in, but most companies are still not giving them key information about things such as energy and water consumption, according to a new review of corporate social responsibility in Canada.

via Few Canadian companies disclose environmental practices – The Globe and Mail.