Climate change is increasingly recognised as the biggest environmental threat we face, and as such it is also becoming a critical business issue. Organisations of all types and sizes need to be aware of their environmental impacts and should be able to demonstrate what they are doing to reduce carbon emissions and mitigate climate change. The ability to deal with all the drivers of performance including the business process, social systems, and enabling technology is essential in an increasingly competitive global marketplace.

Companies must be able to think and act strategically, not just tactically, by treating the supply chain as one integrated system.

Further,

“organisations with long and complex supply chains, whether they are at the beginning (such as chemicals), in the middle (such as logistics companies), or at the end (retail businesses) of the supply chain, need to understand the sustainability aspects of their supply chains. Supply chain sustainability issues can range from child labour and exploitation of workers on the one hand to ozone depletion, deforestation and global warming on the other. These issues can be broken down according to environmental, social, and economic aspects.”

This approach of Supply Chain Management (SCM) is derived from the fact that there are dependencies between levels in channels from the point of origin to the point of consumption.

In addition, the concept of sustainability can be used as a primer to drive efficiencies throughout the supply chain by creating competitive advantage and bottom line benefits for business. This is a critical and timely topic that captures increasing concerns over sustainability, whether driven by current legislation, public interest, or competitive opportunity.