Source : Supply Management
Auteur : Anna Scott
Buyers are set to benefit from an environmental sustainability scorecard developed by Procter & Gamble (P&G), which it has made freely available to other companies to use.
Based on Microsoft Excel, the scorecard analysis tool allows companies to measure and interpret environmental sustainability metrics across their supply chains, such as energy and water use and greenhouse gas emissions. It also enables companies to identify progress and opportunities for improvement by measuring absolute or intensity improvements in nine metrics over the course of a year.
The scorecard was developed in 2010 to improve the environmental footprint of consumer product company P&G’s supply chain and encourage suppliers to make environmental improvements in their own supply chains. It assesses P&G’s external business suppliers’ sustainability too, which the company takes into consideration in future business with them.
“We’re taking every step we can to help others make their supply chain more sustainable,” said Larry Loftus, director of purchases capability and strategy at P&G and lead designer of the scorecard. “We believe we have a useful process and tools and we want others to benefit from that.”
The company estimates that in the past 10 years it has made $1 billion (£629 million) of operational savings from reductions in energy, water, waste and carbon dioxide emissions at its facilities. This has been the result of its sustainability efforts across the company, including use of the scorecard.
The scorecard itself has also resulted in improvements and increased collaboration within P&G’s supplier network. Plastic windows on cartons have been scrapped, for example, and petroleum-based materials have been replaced with certified Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO) material.
The year-on-year data analysis of P&G’s environmental sustainability has highlighted that suppliers from developing markets such as China, India and Brazil tended to show the most improvement. However, nearly half of the companies earning the highest rating came from Europe.
Overall, when combining all of P&G’s suppliers and categories, there was an improvement in 55 per cent of the measurable categories.
“Our scorecard is about collaboration and innovation, and it’s working,” said Rick Hughes, P&G’s chief purchasing officer. “About 25 per cent of our external business partners offered innovation ideas where they could work with P&G to further improve our environmental footprint and we are working now to exploit those.”
The scorecard and information on how to use it can be found here