Responsible Sourcing

Advisory and Verification Services for a Sustainable Supply Chain

Eric Harris, Food & Agriculture phone icon

510.452.6818 email icon

Email
Tobias Schultz, Director, Research and Development phone icon

510.452.6389 email icon

Fostering supply chain sustainability helps companies manage risk, satisfy customer demand, create resilience, and deliver efficiencies that can save money. Global supply networks provide greater flexibility than ever before, but result in greater variability, too, in terms of environmental and social impacts. As a result, each link in your supply chain potentially represents an opportunity for improved sustainability performance, reinforcing your brand reputation and value.

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Service Offerings
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Basic Process

The process can vary depending on industry, product type, and company goals, but usually begins with SCS conducting a Needs Assessment to determine the level of engagement. This iterative process takes an in-depth look at current sourcing practices in order to define appropriate goals and steps forward. The final outcome is a comprehensive proposal with deliverables designed to meet the stated responsible sourcing objectives.

Service Offerings

We can support your efforts to build a sustainable supply chain in several ways:

Benchmarking with existing schemes and standards
Code of conduct development and review
Education and training of staff and suppliers
Hot spot analysis to target priorities for your supply chain
Life cycle assessment to evaluate impacts
Piloting supplier audits/assessments
Benchmarking with existing schemes and standards
Piloting supplier audits/assessments
Responsible sourcing policy
Risk-based ranking systems
Supplier performance verification
Supplier questionnaires
Sustainable sourcing criteria and metrics development

Areas of Expertise

SCS has analyzed production methods and conducted supply chain and chain-of-custody verification systems for a diverse array of raw material and consumer product sectors across the economy. Examples include:

Agriculture: Food and Beverage, Biofuels, Bio-based Products, Horticultural Products
Climate: Carbon Footprints, Carbon Offset Projects, GHG Management
Electronics: Components
Health and Wellness Products: Botanicals, Supplements, Cosmetics
Forestry: Wood Products, Pulp and Paper Products, Packaging
Green Building: Building and Construction Materials, Furniture, Adhesives and Coatings
Industrial: Chemical inputs
Life Cycle Assessment: Environmental Product Declarations, Comparative LCA
Mining: Conflict Minerals, Precious Metals and Gems
Seafood: Fisheries and Aquaculture
Textiles: Apparel, Upholstery, Geotextiles
Water: Water Footprint

SCS Expertise

Developing and supporting customized responsible sourcing programs (For example, see Starbucks Ethical Sourcing)
Works with you from start to finish, from consultation to implementation
Global network of auditors
Can work directly with all of your suppliers to clearly communicate your goals, and gather and validate evidence of conformance
Goes beyond Tier One suppliers
Works with single commodity supply chains and multiple products/inputs
Works with software solutions provider to ensure proper data collection and reporting mechanisms are in place
Collects the stories and data for marketing, CSR reports, or other stakeholder reporting needs

Program Documents

Responsible Sourcing Brochure

Ferrero Case Study

Ferrero Case Study (Spanish)