A study examines how companies contribute to sustainability through their supply chains. Global supply chains have a significant impact on social and environmental issues. However, a comprehensive, empirical understanding of how companies address sustainability through supply chains is lacking. Eric Lambin and colleagues compiled a database of 449 publicly listed companies' sustainable sourcing practices (SSPs) in the food, wood product, and textile sectors. Approximately half of the companies sampled used at least one SSP, which could range from third-party certification of externally defined production standards to companies training their suppliers on sustainability issues. However, the majority of SSPs were limited in scope: More than 70% of SSPs dealt with only one or a subset of a company's input materials, and nearly all SSPs addressed only a single tier in the supply chain, usually first-tier suppliers or raw material producers. The authors compared SSPs with the United Nations' Sustainable Development Goals and found that SSPs primarily addressed labor rights and compliance with national laws, with few addressing health, energy, infrastructure, climate change, education, gender, or poverty. The probability of adopting SSPs was associated with a company's exposure to consumer demands. According to the authors, the results highlight opportunities to increase the adoption and effectiveness of SSPs.
Article #17-16695: "Companies' contribution to sustainability through global supply chains," by Tannis Thorlakson, Joann F. de Zegher, and Eric F. Lambin.
MEDIA CONTACT: Tannis Thorlakson, Stanford University, CA; tel: 509-630-2619; e-mail: <thorlaks@stanford.edu>; Eric F. Lambin, Stanford University, CA; tel: 650-724-9825, 650-387-3251; e-mail: <elambin@stanford.edu>
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