CSR in Europe, Middle East and Africa : supply chain

Zoe McMahon on Accountability for Minerals in the Eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC)

vp9a83272 — Fri, 27 Nov 2009 12:37:00 GMT

I would like to draw your attention to an article by our Supply Chain Social and Environmental Responsibility Manager Zoe McMahon, who talks about corporations’ accountability for minerals sourced in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). You can access the article here.

Non-governmental organisations regularly scan product components to determine whether they have been acquired under socially acceptable conditions. As Zoe says, this attention to detail within the framework of CSR is just as important for IT products. Traceability in an extremely complex supply chain such as the electronics industry has become key.

Zoe summarises the challenges of tracing ‘conflict minerals’ in our supply chain and names various initiatives which address the rising demands of traceability. Last month we held a multi-industry forum together with Dell, Intel, Motorola and Philips to discuss the role of mineral trade in financing the armed conflict in the Eastern DRC. NGOs, certification bodies and other entities also participated in the discussions. The forum focused on industry actions that need to be taken in order to ensure that metals are sourced from mines not associated with the conflict in the country.

I would be very keen to hear your thoughts on both our approach and Zoe’s comprehensive article.

Karl Daumüller, Programme Manager and Lead Auditor for HP’s Supply Chain Social and Environmental Responsible Programme

Sustainable procurement: 80 % of respondents invest and the trend is increasing

vp9a83272 — Thu, 17 Sep 2009 10:24:00 GMT

As one of HP’s supply chain auditors, I always look for news and best practices relating to responsible supply chain management and procurement. This summer HEC Paris and EcoVadis published an interesting study: The Sustainable Procurement Benchmark report. The study is based on a questionnaire which was sent to procurement executives in 95 of Europe’s largest corporations. Here are my personal highlights of the study.

It is good to read that around 75% of respondents take Corporate Social Responsibility issues into consideration when they go to the market. What is more relevant for me, however, is to see that nearly a third of the respondents use CSR as selection criteria. That is good news and I would think that this number will increase even more. For us at HP, sustainable and ethical practices undertaken by our suppliers are decisive factors when we consider them for inclusion in our supplier base. Our regular evaluations and audits aim to ensure that our Social and Environmental standards based on the EICC (Electronics Industry Code of Conduct) are met by our suppliers’ factories.

The final highlight of the study from HEC Paris and EcoVadis is that around three quarters of respondents apply sustainable procurements as a measure for supplier performance. This is an acceptable high percentage, isn’t it? Sustainable procurement is at the top of the agenda and the study indicates that it is there to stay.

For those companies who are interested in learning more about responsible supply chain management, they can visit the CSR Europe portal. Whether you are a buyer or supplier, you can find a wide set of available standards and codes and a lot of other materials on best practices relevant to a sustainable supply chain.

I am always on the look out for supply chain or procurement studies. If you come across some, please let me know.

Karl Daumüller, SC SER Lead Auditor

New Global Citizenship Video

ulrikehaug — Thu, 23 Jul 2009 15:22:00 GMT

We have just released an updated version of our ‘Global Citizenship in EMEA’ video and I would like to invite you to watch it and leave your comments.

In the video, HP managers in charge of environmental responsibility, social investment, supply chain responsibility and privacy describe what HP does in their area of global citizenship.

Let me know what you think and if you know of any CSR videos by other companies that you find worth watching.

Ulrike Haug, CSR Stakeholder Programmes, HP EMEA

Buy fair – public procurement and social criteria

vp9a83272 — Wed, 10 Jun 2009 14:11:00 GMT

At the end of May, I was in sunny Switzerland for a supply chain conference and workshop in Solothurn, with a focus on sustainable public procurement. About 80 participants came to the conference and the panels and workshops provided a great platform for detailed discussions around particular topics. I participated in a workshop on current practices and ideas around sustainable computer procurement.

I presented HP’s social and environmental supply chain programme, illustrating how our supply chain practices are embedded in our Global Citizenship policies. HP’s supplier engagement, the code of conduct (EICC), audit practices, continuous improvement and capability building examples rounded up the presentation. You will find the latest information about our supply chain practices in our Global Citizenship Report.

In his podcast Jay Celorie describes our transparency regarding environmental standards in the supply chain and you will also find a quick overview of our supply chain practices in our case study.

The workshop discussions confirmed a need for guidelines on sustainable procurement for public organisations and many of the participants wished to have a simple tool (such as labels for example) which would allow them to clearly indicate whether a product is produced under social and environmentally responsible conditions or not.

Public sustainable procurement is definitively in the horizon. Initiatives of some European countries and the European Commission, as well examples from Swiss cities discussed during the workshop, clearly indicate that it is only a question of time until the public will buy only sustainable products and services.

Karl Daumueller, Lead Auditor & Program Manager

UN Global Compact Annual Review 2008: Implementation gaps exist

jeanne2007 — Wed, 29 Apr 2009 11:20:00 GMT

At the beginning of this month the UN Global Compact launched its Annual Review 2008. Let me give you a short summary of the key findings – both positive and negative.

Let me start with positive ones: Corporations worldwide are adopting increasingly responsible business practices. The number of participating companies has risen to more than 5,000. I was happy to hear that companies from China and India have also taken an increased interest in the Global Compact and have decided to join it. This is definitely a step in the right direction to tackle human rights issues.

Let’s turn to the more unpleasant findings: There are considerable implementation shortcomings, most notably in supply chain management and subsidiary engagement. Less than ten per cent of participating corporations require their suppliers to become members of the Global Compact. It is, however, essential that responsible business practices are adopted through the complete supply chain. Finally, the increase in new participants is clouded by the delisting of 400 corporations, which failed to communicate their progress. We recently launched our 2008 Global Citizenship Report where we summarise our progress in our CSR approach.

This annual review reveals a great deal. It underlines the growing commitment of corporations adopting responsible business practices. It also reveals the challenges of effective implementation. All in all, I think we are on a good CSR path. What do you think?

Jeannette Weisschuh, Director of Global Citizenship, HP EMEA

Global Reporting Initiative: transparency in supply chain is critical

jeanne2007 — Wed, 15 Apr 2009 12:08:00 GMT

Karl wants to share some news related to the importance of transparency in the supply chain. Enjoy reading, Jeannette

Global Reporting Initiative: transparency in supply chain is critical

In my recent blog entries I have made clear the importance of transparency. This is why we have committed to publishing our suppliers’ names and tracking carbon emissions along our supply chain.

At the end of March the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) launched a new programme - the Global Action Network for Transparency in the Supply Chain - to foster transparency in the supply chain and offer collaboration and capacity building. Through this programme suppliers of participating multinational corporations will receive GRI certified training and resources enabling them to implement the G3 Sustainability Reporting Framework.

This is a promising programme and I look forward to the first results and feedback from participating companies and their suppliers. I will keep you updated.

Karl Daumüller, Programme Manager and SC SER Lead Auditor

Corporations are committed to reducing carbon emissions but action is lacking

jeanne2007 — Fri, 06 Mar 2009 13:16:00 GMT

Karl wants to share some news about the current status of carbon emission transparency along the supply chain. Enjoy reading, Jeannette

Corporations are committed to reducing carbon emissions but action is lacking

A recent survey by Accenture, a global consultancy caught my attention as it is linked to my entry of HP’s plan to decarbonise the supply chain in December. Over 250 supply chain executives were interviewed regarding their commitment and strategy to reduce carbon emissions. The results made me think. Although the majority of participating companies are committed to reducing carbon emissions, only a few have valid strategies in place to do so: Only 10% of participating companies track the carbon emissions and acquire the necessary data about the carbon footprint in their supply chain. Moreover, more than one third have no idea of the overall emissions in their supply chain. You can find further details about the survey results here.

Despite these negative results, the survey still reveals some positive points: More than 75% of respondents stated that they have participated in different green initiatives to manifest their commitment to lower carbon emissions. The willingness is there and that is important. But we can only reduce carbon emissions if we act accordingly. In December we released our emissions data, which represents more than 80% of our company’s costs for materials. In the long run we plan to establish a tool set and methods which support our suppliers in analysing carbon emissions. This will help us to further reduce the carbon footprint in our supply chain. I will keep you updated how this project develops.

Karl Daumüller, Programme Manager and SC SER Lead Auditor

PS: Jay Celorie, HP Global Programme Manager for Supply Chain Energy provided some further insights into HP’s decarbonising strategy. You can listen to the podcast here

EC Multistakeholder Forum - a unique platform for dialogue

jeanne2007 — Wed, 18 Feb 2009 12:14:00 GMT

Karl was last week at the multistakeholder forum and I asked him to give us a short summary of the event. Enjoy reading, Jeannette.

EC Multistakeholder Forum – a unique platform for dialogue

At the beginning of this month I participated in the European Multi-Stakeholder Forum on Corporate Social Responsibility, organized by the EC. This was an interesting event as it brought together many different stakeholders (investors, public authorities, NGOs, trade unions, business and civil society groups). The topics addressed were the European added-value in global CSR processes and instruments, leveraging supply chains to support decent work; innovation and CSR, transparency and CSR and education for CSR. You can find the complete agenda including participants here.

I was one of the speakers in the panel: The global dimension of CSR (2): leveraging supply chains to support decent work. I talked about how CSR can be successfully promoted along the supply chain. For me the most important elements of effective responsible supply chain management are: a clear corporate commitment, a partnership approach and capability building.

In addition, public tools such as the CSR Europe ‘Portal for Responsible Supply Chain Management’, where HP was one of the leaders, can provide excellent information and material both for buyers and suppliers on the implementation of a responsible supply chain programme.

A further interesting question that emerged was what effect the current economic and financial crisis has on supply chain issues. My answer was straight forward: There are no apologies for any mistreatment of labour, environmental or health & safety laws/standards in economically challenging times. Our Supply Chain Social and Environmental Responsibility programme is a compliance programme without compromises.

I enjoyed the discussions with different stakeholder groups and consider them to be essential if we want to promote transparency.

Karl Daumüller, Programme Manager and SC SER Lead Auditor

Best practice sharing: Supplier engagement in Brazil

jeanne2007 — Thu, 12 Feb 2009 14:23:00 GMT

I would like to share with you a best practice example in supply chain responsibility. ArcelorMittal, a global leading steel company, participated in a supplier engagement programme in Brazil with a focus on sustainability and environmental issues and presented lately first results: Of the participating suppliers

73% have started engaging in waste management and separate their waste,

67% introduced processes to reduce their environmental impact,

53% introduced a new product or service with a specific social or environmental element,

67% started training their employees on sustainability issues.

These are great achievements. One might wonder whether such achievements came at a large costs, but they did not. There is a prejudice that suppliers (often small ones) cannot afford sustainability programmes but this is not true and the case study from ArcelorMittal underlines that: Over 90 % of the participating suppliers indicated that the integrated responsible business practices had a positive impact on their relation to their customers and over 80% said that those practices are likely to improve their relationship with other companies in their supply chain.

This is good news. Not only does this best practice show what can be achieved, but it also shows that sustainability programmes are worth it and have long term positive effects on the business. Have a look at the summary of the supplier engagement programme.

The results of the Arcelor Mittal are similar to the ones from our “Central European Supplier Responsibility” project, which we have done together with the Danish Commerce and Companies Agency. Karl has written a blog entry about this project with more details. I am always happy to share best practices. If you come across similar success stories, let me know.

Jeannette Weisschuh, Director of Global Citizenship, HP EMEA

New podcast: Transparency in environmental standards

jeanne2007 — Thu, 05 Feb 2009 14:43:00 GMT

Following up with Karl’s blog entry on the transparency of our suppliers’ emission, I would like to share a podcast with Jay Celorie, HP Global Program Manager for Supply Chain Energy, who talks in more detail about our long-term programme. To listen to the podcast, click here. Enjoy!

Jeannette Weisschuh, Director of Global Citizenship, HP EMEA

The online responsible supply chain portal

jeanne2007 — Wed, 10 Dec 2008 10:44:00 GMT

My colleague Karl Daumüller, Programme Manager and SC SER Lead Auditor, attended the European Alliance for CSR Event in Brussels last week and I asked him to give some updates on the latest supply chain news. Enjoy, Jeannette.

The online responsible supply chain portal

Last week I attended The European Alliance for CSR 2008. The reason for the event was the launch of the deliverables of the 20 CSR Europe Laboratories. As you might know from earlier blogs, HP is one of the four leading companies (the others being L’Oreal, Titan and Volkswagen) working within the ‘Responsible Supply Chain Management’ Laboratory.

'Responsible Supply Chain Management' was one of the six selected laboratories highlighted during the event. Since 2007 experts and representatives from the participating companies have worked on an online portal for responsible supply chain management. As you can see, the portal gives an overview of best practices, existing international standards and principles. It also gives lots of background information, all of which is sorted by topic (forced labour for example).

I think small and medium sized enterprises particularly gain from this portal as they find a lot of useful information and guidance. These corporations lack the resources and knowledge about responsible supply chain management and the portal is a great help to them. It equally illustrates what large corporations expect and demand regarding responsible supply chain management practices.

All in all, the portal constitutes a best practice example and shows what companies, stakeholders and governmental institutions can achieve when they join forces.

For me, a personal highlight was when Mr. Verheugen (VP of the European Commission, responsible for Enterprise and Industry) came to our stand and I could show him the content of the portal and how it works. I am proud to be part of this laboratory and I am keen to continue the work on the portal.

Karl Daumüller, Programme Manager and SC SER Lead Auditor

Let’s make carbon emissions transparent

jeanne2007 — Mon, 03 Nov 2008 13:28:00 GMT

I asked my colleague Karl, Programme Manager and SC SER Lead Auditor, to share some supply chain updates. Enjoy, Jeannette.

Let’s make carbon emissions transparent

I have had such an exciting month. I just came back from the Ethical Supply Chain Summit in Berlin organised by Ethical Corporation, which focused on supply chain transparency, including the measurement of carbon emissions.

As you might have read, we have announced our intention to disclose our carbon emissions along our supply chain. This is a big step forwards and it corresponds to the rising demands of civil society. HP is actually the first IT company to do this and we hope that, by disclosing our carbon emissions data, we will be able to encourage other companies to follow suit.

The process starts with disclosing the carbon emissions data from our largest first-tier suppliers. We then forward the data along our complete supply chain in order to investigate further emissions reductions. To give you an example, we recently conducted a carbon disclosure survey among our suppliers in cooperation with the Carbon Disclosure Project.

We are eager to advance the methods for quantifying and reporting product and supply chain greenhouse gas emissions, which is why we will become (when? soon?) a member of the Greenhouse Gas (GHG) Protocol Supply Chain Initiative - an initiative designed to specifically build a new generation of credible and effective programmes for tackling climate change.

Measuring a multinational company’s carbon footprint is a challenging task and it is time to take on that challenge. This is also an exciting long-term project. I am proud to be part of it and to spread the word and I am eager to hear from you on how you too would meet this challenge.

Karl Daumüller, Programme Manager and SC SER Lead Auditor

Managing global supply chains and a company’s carbon footprint

jeanne2007 — Mon, 29 Sep 2008 11:37:00 GMT

I recently read in the newsletter “McKinsey Quarterly” an interesting article about managing global supply chains.

Operations and other senior executives worldwide were asked about their supply chain strategies, goals and the factors that influence the strategies and goals and how their corporations react to these factors. The results speak for themselves: Supply chain risks are increasing and supply chain goals are hard to meet due to product and service complexity, higher energy prices and increased financial volatility.

What grasped my attention was the result that environmental concerns, like climate change seem to have only minor influences on supply chain strategies. Reducing a company’s carbon footprint is rather at the end of supply chain priorities. At the top of the list are cost reduction, improving customer service and bringing products faster to the market.

I guess the reason for this result lies in the complexity of the issue. A research report sponsored by Fujitsu shows that the majority of CIOs surveyed find carbon footprint calculations unclear and confusing. There is a disagreement on which outsourced activities should still be included in the carbon footprint calculations.

I would like to pose the question here of how you deal with the complexity of calculating your company’s carbon footprint. I am looking forward to your comments.

Jeannette Weisschuh, Head of Global Citizenship, HP EMEA

Best practice: Supply Chain Management

BlogArchive — Mon, 05 May 2008 06:50:00 GMT

I would like to share a best practice of Intel with you today regarding their supply chain management. Intel organizes a Supplier Day on a yearly basis and invites its equipment and material suppliers to talk about their business relation and Intel’s expectations. Such a supplier Day is also useful to discuss about existing partnerships but also to initiate cooperation.

At the event, Intel recognises the best suppliers which receive awards like the Supplier Continuous Quality Improvement (SCQI) award or the Preferred Quality Supplier (PQS) award. I like the idea of such an annual supplier event where you can directly approach certain issues together. My colleagues and I have already talked a lot about the importance of engaging with our suppliers for a sustainable and socially responsible supply chain and I believe we also have good programs underway. As you might know we recently published a list of our suppliers in order to increase transparency and foster further positive changes along our supply chain.

Our approach regarding supply chain management is based on capability building. We work closely with our suppliers and try to provide them with the expertise and skills to operate a sustainable supply chain of their own and teach their own suppliers how to integrate socially responsible and environmentally sound practices in their business operations. You can read about the latest results of our capability approach in the report “Small Suppliers in Global Supply Chains” which was sponsored by the European Commission. The report is based on findings from a project run with HP suppliers and their suppliers in Central and Eastern Europe in cooperation with the Danish Commerce and Companies Agency (DCCA). Read Karl’s blog entry about the project for more detailed information.

In our latest Global Citizenship bulletin you can also read or listen to an interview with Mette Andersen, Special Advisor to the DCCA. She talks about the challenges of small and medium sized suppliers. Best practices like the supplier day and awards by Intel show that the industry is aware of the challenges and is working on diverse ways of how to tackle them. If you are aware of further best practices in this field, I would like to invite you to share them with us by posting a comment below.

Jeannette Weisschuh, Head of Corporate Affairs, HP EMEA

Increasing transparency along the supply chain

BlogArchive — Mon, 28 Apr 2008 10:12:00 GMT

Civil society increasingly demands transparency and consumers would like to have details about how their products are manufactured and by whom. It is not enough anymore to know that a laptop is an HP laptop for example. We acknowledged this demand and were the first IT company to publish a list of our largest suppliers at the beginning of this month.

The list consists of our largest suppliers which represent over 95% of our global procurement expenditures for materials, manufacturing and assembly of our products. We operate the industry’s largest supply chain and therefore we want to lead by example and foster transparency. Hopefully this step will encourage other companies in our industry to follow.

We continuously aim to raise supply chain standards in our industry, specifically when it comes to health & safety for employees and environmental conditions. Another recent example is the final report of a joint project with the Danish Commerce and Companies Agency which provides guidance to small and medium-sized enterprise suppliers on how to leverage from existing management tools and training opportunities to become a more responsible company within a global supply chain.

Since the publication of our supplier list we have received various feedback. In his blog on Business Green, Danny Bradbury critically reviews our supplier list and refers to still existing issues along the supply chain. At the same time he acknowledges positively that we belong to one of the first companies which makes its direct suppliers publicly available.

I consider transparency to be the best way to bring more clarity and maybe also control into the supply chain considering that multinational corporations have an immense network of suppliers worldwide (Walmart has over 60,000 suppliers for example). To my knowledge only very few companies have already published the names of their suppliers like Nike . Are you aware of any further transparency initiatives in other industries? Let me know by posting a comment.

Jeannette Weisschuh, Head of Corporate Affairs, HP EMEA