Suppliers’ environmental impacts

From the environmental impact point of view service extension gives the supplier a greater involvement in the product life-cycle, with the potential to help manage the product through the life-cycle. 

A practical problem faced by tanneries is that many chemical products are proprietary products. Many suppliers do not specify the chemical composition of the products, so tanneries may have to seek additional information from the chemical suppliers in order to determine the environmental impact of the products they use. Sometimes it is also difficult for tanneries to receive accurate information also from the suppliers of the chemicals. Material safety data sheets generally provide some data on the toxicity of the products to humans and environment, and many tanneries use these as the sole source of information to determine the environmental impact of a certain substance. It can be expected in the EU in the future that tanneries will receive more detailed information about the substances used because of the REACH legislation. 

Skanska, one of the world s largest construction companies with 75 000 employees and activities world-wide, are stating that operating for many years under substitution regulation in Sweden has lead them to "...continuously seek less harmful alternatives. This is something that our clients expect from us as a producer of buildings or infrastructure. As we are not experts on the components in our products, we have to go back to our suppliers with the requests that our clients put on us. As manufacturers of building components they will have to go back to their suppliers etc. This is the way we want the market to work in order to reduce the environmental impact."... 

Nevertheless, the new market order also opened up opportunities for utilities to deal with environmental problems. Experience from other countries with deregulated electricity markets showed that consumers are willing to pay extra for electricity with low environmental impact. A number of incumbent electric utilities, as well as newly emerging green power marketers, began developing green power products to differentiate themselves from other suppliers [11]. 

What would you change, complete or develop at this model 1 would generate a new model in which sale is implemented as in a classic purchasing process, the primary target should be the reduction of the environmental impact with an economic benefit for the supplier as well as for the manufacturer, without clear economic benefit the quality that is offered to the final consumer is diminished. ... 

At a minimum, corporate responsibility auditing can provide a complete picture of how well a company performs against its values, industry or global standards, peers, and the expectations of essential stakeholders. Many companies use the results to put in place, both internally and in partnership with major suppliers, credible and measurable process improvements that responsibly drive efficiencies, reduce risk, seize new business opportunities, and strengthen relationships with stakeholders. For many companies, corporate responsibility auditing also provides a verifiable and credible process for reporting to stakeholders on their social and environmental impacts and the effects on profitability. 

Companies are beginning to realise that in order to accurately reflect their total environmental impact, the behaviour of their suppliers needs to be taken into account. This in turn should include transport providers. 

How should the environmental impact of suppliers be dealt with It certainly must be factored in, otherwise certain companies will be able to achieve a better rating simply because they have outsourced some of their requirements. 

Many companies have realised that their total environmental impact is also influenced by how their suppliers operate. A yes score will be given where the CER mentions a strategy by which the company is encouraging or insisting that suppliers operate to appropriate environmental standards. 

But individual firms can use these maps to work with their suppliers to ensure that the associated supply chains conform to regulations or the company s ethical constraints, inform the customer regarding the environmental impact of the product sourcing, and so on. For example, the site shows the sourcing of chocolate across the world ([15]), along with specific supplier-related issues that are causes for concern. The data in these supply chain maps, similar to the NGO reports, potentially impact consumer choices and put pressure on companies to make changes. 

Lyocell is an excellent example of a sustainable fibre today. Building on this, lyocell manufacturers operate a policy of continuous improvement in partnership with key raw material suppliers, customers and retailers. Future developments are likely to further minimise the environmental impact of lyocell fibres in areas such as ... 

Wal-Mart has pledged to work more closely with suppliers to reduce Its environmental Impact. The retailer, which owns supermarket Asda In the UK, has launched the Sustainability 360 programme to make Its suppliers and customers greener. The news follows similar announcements by Marks Spencer and Tesco. 

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