• Advertise
  • Contact Us
  • About Us
  • Supplier Directory
  • SCB YouTube
  • Login
  • Subscribe
  • Logout
  • My Profile
  • LOGISTICS
    • Air Cargo
    • All Logistics
    • Express/Small Shipments
    • Facility Location Planning
    • Freight Forwarding/Customs Brokerage
    • Global Gateways
    • Global Logistics
    • Last Mile Delivery
    • Logistics Outsourcing
    • LTL/Truckload Services
    • Ocean Transportation
    • Rail & Intermodal
    • Reverse Logistics
    • Service Parts Management
    • Transportation & Distribution
  • TECHNOLOGY
    • All Technology
    • Artificial Intelligence
    • Cloud & On-Demand Systems
    • Data Management (Big Data/IoT/Blockchain)
    • ERP & Enterprise Systems
    • Forecasting & Demand Planning
    • Global Trade Management
    • Inventory Planning/ Optimization
    • Product Lifecycle Management
    • Sales & Operations Planning
    • SC Finance & Revenue Management
    • SC Planning & Optimization
    • Sourcing/Procurement/SRM
    • Supply Chain Visibility
    • Transportation Management
  • GENERAL SCM
    • Business Strategy Alignment
    • Education & Professional Development
    • Global Supply Chain Management
    • Global Trade & Economics
    • HR & Labor Management
    • Quality & Metrics
    • Regulation & Compliance
    • SC Security & Risk Mgmt
    • Supply Chains in Crisis
    • Sustainability & Corporate Social Responsibility
  • WAREHOUSING
    • All Warehouse Services
    • Conveyors & Sortation
    • Lift Trucks & AGVs
    • Order Fulfillment
    • Packaging
    • RFID, Barcode, Mobility & Voice
    • Robotics
    • Warehouse Management Systems
  • INDUSTRIES
    • Aerospace & Defense
    • Apparel
    • Automotive
    • Chemicals & Energy
    • Consumer Packaged Goods
    • E-Commerce/Omni-Channel
    • Food & Beverage
    • Healthcare
    • High-Tech/Electronics
    • Industrial Manufacturing
    • Pharmaceutical/Biotech
    • Retail
  • THINK TANK
  • WEBINARS
    • On-Demand Webinars
    • Upcoming Webinars
    • Webinar Library
  • PODCASTS
  • VIDEOS
  • WHITEPAPERS
Home » Corporate Environmental Influence Is More Connected Than You Think

Corporate Environmental Influence Is More Connected Than You Think

May 11, 2022
Tara Milburn, SupplyChainBrain Contributor

Since our beginning, humanity’s concept of trade has been vast. Towns, cities and countries traded among themselves the goods they had in excess for the goods they lacked. The rapid acceleration of production and transportation technology over the last century has led to what we now understand as the supply chain, a connected system of trade and supply that branches out across a global landscape.

That inherently connected structure was cause for concern during the COVID-19 pandemic, when international border closures and personnel disruptions caused bottlenecks at various stages. When shelves were sparse and boats were waiting weeks on end at loading docks, we were offered a valuable lesson: A problem at any stage of the supply chain, in any part of the world, has downstream effects that reach us all.

The inherent risk of supply chain interconnectivity is a perfect analogy for the problem of our ecological crisis — a less visible but even more urgent descent that’s walked parallel to the pandemic in the past two years. Ecological waste, the accumulation of greenhouse gasses, the overuse of natural resources and the overconsumption of carbon are problems that need to be solved in aggregate; otherwise, they affect every link of the global chain.

The very nature of the problem is daunting. With still recovering budgets, it’s hard for any employer, supply chain professional or team member across the supply chain process to feel that their actions could have any import. Nonetheless, implementing green solutions within the supply chain will be a step-by-step process. The recovery we seek will happen slowly, on a company-by-company level. When that task is taken seriously in aggregate, the progress will add up faster than what might be imaginable now, at what feels like an inflection point in the crisis.

Green Saving Green: The Financial Case

Early last year, when environmental disclosure nonprofit CDP studied data from more than 8,000 companies, it found a combined $120 billion of expected increased costs among those companies within the next five years. Those increased costs are stemming solely from environmental risks. And because most supply chains run on tight profit margins, the increases will create a domino effect — raising the cost for their buyers, who will pass the increase on to their consumers.

The sector most at risk for that increase is manufacturing, and the most crucial environmental risks positioned to cause the increase are climate change, deforestation and water-related impacts. The report is taking into consideration the possibility for the increase in natural disasters brought on by a changing climate, as well as the increased cost of raw materials as natural resources are depleted, and the cost associated with regulatory and governmental sanctions for their ecological performance. The CDP’s findings make the need to address environmental risks through the supply chain absolutely vital for suppliers, producers, vendors and consumers alike.

Silver Lining

Equally important in the CDP’s report are two positive findings. First, the number of supplier companies disclosing this kind of data to their corporate partners increased 16% even with the COVID-19 disruption, from less than 7,000 to more than 8,000 within the space of a year. That’s important, because no one can fix a problem that isn’t yet specific and visible. 

Second, suppliers last year undertook activities that cut emissions by 619 million metric tons of carbon dioxide emissions. That’s a cost savings of $33.7 billion. In environmental terms, that’s equivalent to the emissions from 159 coal power plants running for a full year; an incredible leap in the absolutely correct direction.

Still, only 37% of suppliers are engaging their suppliers to cut emissions. If these actions were taken up in aggregate — if the 37% simply doubled to become 74% — imagine the progress that could again take place in the space of a year. The first line of offense we have in bringing those numbers into reality is the tool of knowledge itself. Suppliers, company leaders and logistics professionals have had no shortage of priorities calling for their attention in the last two years. Overlooking the imperative for green solutions might be a dire mistake, but it’s nonetheless understandable. 

If one vendor sparks the process, the results will no doubt follow across the entire supply chain. Partnering with manufacturers who commit to sustainable materials can drastically cut deforestation and water-related impacts, two of the primary resource spends that are currently creating the problem. And if vendors put in place some goals for the supplier’s carbon offset strategy, or if they can provide some research on the benchmarks for greener transportation, their suppliers will have a simplified path in walking toward that kind of progress. Slowly but surely, the numbers will add up even faster than they have in the last year.

The corporate supply chain has a long way to go; supply chain emissions are 11.4 times higher than operational emissions on average. But substantial, earth-changing progress can happen in the space of a year. This should be the hopeful takeaway for companies at any stage of the supply chain; when one company takes a small step forward, the effect of the action is amplified and passed on throughout the entire supply chain. That’s how we’ll move toward greener, global solutions — by walking together in the same direction.

Tara Milburn is founder and CEO of Ethical Swag.

Read more of SupplyChainBrain's 2022 Supply Chain ESG Guide here.

RELATED CONTENT

RELATED VIDEOS

Data Management (Big Data/IoT/Blockchain) Sourcing/Procurement/SRM Business Strategy Alignment Sustainability & Corporate Social Responsibility
  • Related Articles

    You Share Your Customer's Data with Many More Parties Than You Think

    Here Are 8 Scenarios that Show Sustainability Is Easier Than You Think

    The Supply-Chain Talent Gap Is Wider Than You Think

Tara Milburn, SupplyChainBrain Contributor

Ensuring Supply Chain Sustainability in a Post-Pandemic World

More from this author

Subscribe to our Daily Newsletter!

Timely, incisive articles delivered directly to your inbox.

Popular Stories

  • DOCUMENTS BEARING THE INSIGNIA OF US CUSTOMS AND BORDER PROTECTION LIE ON A TABLE

    New CBP Regs Call for Greater Diligence by Brokers in Reporting Security Breaches

    Freight Forwarding/Customs Brokerage
  • A WORKER IN A WAREHOUSE, SUPERIMPOSED WITH GRAPHICS SHOWING SUPPLY NETWORK

    Enabling Intelligent Visibility With Supply Chain Analytics

    Data Management (Big Data/IoT/Blockchain)
  • GSCMS-Promo.png

    Watch: Introducing the Global Supply Chain Marketing Summit

    Education & Professional Development
  • A HAND TURNS A LARGE, LIGHTED DIAL WITH THE WORD RISK ON IT iStock-NicoElNino-1364371014.jpg

    Measuring KPIs and KRIs for Comprehensive Supplier Performance Management

    Technology
  • DEEPLY CRACKED EARTH UNDER A BLUE CLOUDY SKY

    Why Maritime Supply Chains Must Adapt to Sustainability Regulations

    Ocean Transportation

Digital Edition

Scb nov 2022 sm

2022 Supply Chain Innovator of the Year

VIEW THE LATEST ISSUE

Case Studies

  • New Revenue for Cloud-Based TMS that Embeds Orderful’s Modern EDI Platform

  • Convenience Store Client Maximizes Profit and Improves Customer Service

  • A Digitally Native Footwear Brand Finds Rapid Fulfillment

  • Expanding Apparel Brand Scales Seamlessly with E-Commerce Technology

  • How a Global LSP Scaled its Security Program and Won More Business

Visit Our Sponsors

Orderful Yang Ming Alithya
Barcoding Blue Yonder BNSF Logistics
CoEnterprise Data Capture Deposco
E2open GAINSystems Generix
Geodis GEP GreyOrange
Here Honeywell Intelligrated IFM
Infor Inmar Keelvar
Kinaxis Korber Lean Solutions Group 2H
Liberty SBF Locus Robotics Logility
LogistiVIEW Lucas Systems MCA Connect
MPO Nvidia Old Dominion
OpenText ORTEC Overhaul
Parsyl PMMI QIMA
Redwood Logistics Ryder E-commerce by Whiplash Saddle Creek Logistics
Schneider Dedicated Setlog Holding AG Ship4WD
Shipwell Tecsys TGW Systems
Thomson Reuters Tive Trailer Bridge
Vecna Robotics Verity
Verusen
  • More From SCB
    • Featured Content
    • Video Library
    • Think Tank Blog
    • SupplyChainBrain Podcast
    • Whitepapers
    • On-Demand Webinars
    • Upcoming Webinars
  • Digital Offerings
    • Digital Issue
    • Subscribe
    • Manage Your Subscription
    • Newsletters
  • Resources
    • Events Calendar
    • SCB's Great Supply Chain Partners
    • Supplier Directory
    • Case Study Showcase
    • Supply Chain Innovation Awards
    • 100 Great Partners Form
  • SCB Corporate
    • Advertise on SCB.COM
    • About Us
    • Privacy Policy
    • Contact Us
    • Data Sharing Opt-Out

All content copyright ©2023 Keller International Publishing Corp All rights reserved. No reproduction, transmission or display is permitted without the written permissions of Keller International Publishing Corp

Design, CMS, Hosting & Web Development :: ePublishing