EcoVadis in the Press - Articles and bylines

At the EcoVadis Sustain 2021 Conference held in March, senior supply chain executives and various speakers spoke of the opportunity of “building back better” in the new normal of business.  Speakers talked about rethinking of existing supply network strategies that place equal weighting on lowest cost along with that of carbon reduction. In a recent interview this Editor had with Pierre-Francios Thaler, Co-Founder and Co-CEO of EcoVadis after this conference, he reinforced that the tipping-point of more climate action was already occurring over the past 12-18 months. His prediction was that supply chain executive leaders will indeed have to take on a higher leadership profile role regarding CSR objectives and working plans. Thaler also mentioned the more active attention that equity investment firms currently have on the sustainably ratings of individual companies and industries.

Bridgestone’s procurement policy proclaims that the company will use 100% sustainable materials by 2050; the company began working with CSR evaluation provider EcoVadis in 2018 to assess its suppliers’ existing sustainability practices. In 2019, Bridgestone will focus on reviewing the findings from EcoVadis’ assessments, to address immediate concerns, and to expand on its strategy for best practices in supply chain sustainability and transparency.

Big business is making big moves when it comes to sustainability. As evidenced by 2019’s monumental Business Roundtable declaration that redefined corporate purpose; and more recently, Blackrock pledging to ditch investments with high sustainability-related risks, corporate accountability for social and environmental stewardship is building.

To navigate a changing industry landscape, many big pharma companies are scaling up their sustainable procurement programs and collaborating with peers and even competitors to increase their depth and breadth of supply chain visibility. GlaxoSmithKline, Teva and Takeda recently established the Responsible Health Initiative (RHI), an industry group designed to leverage collaboration and technology to improve transparency, efficiency and sustainability within the global health supply chain.