How sustainable is your supply chain?

Sustainability is a collaborative process: There is only so much that any one business can do about acting responsibly on behalf of the environment or society without involving its supply chain and holding it accountalbe. The company Ceres has now created a free 20-page template to help other companies get a more complete picture of which business partners may be putting their own sustainability agenda at risk.
Originally developed for companies in the industrial sector, the new questionnaire offers a series of questions intended to identify, assess, manage and disclose potential risks within a company's supply chain.The questions center on general facilities information, environmental, social and governance concerns. Here are three examples:

• Does the facility hold the necessary licenses or permits for and has the facility received any fines, prosecution, or warnings by regulators in relation to air emissions?
• Does the facility have a system in place to reduce the environmental impact of energy use and greenhouse gases?
• Does the facility consider Design for Environment in its development of products?

Ceres consulted other organizations in developing the questions, including the Electronic Industry Citizen Coalition, the Global Social Compliance Program and Sedex. Even though the questionnaire was developed specifically for businesses in the industrial sector, Ceres describes the tool as a conversation starter that helps any company understand where it is vulnerable and take steps to improve the sustainability of its operations. The questionnaire can be found on the organization's website.