Can your suppliers make your workplace more sustainable?

How to select a Sustainable Supplier

In the process of looking for your suppliers one thing that you can do is perform a pre-qualification to assess the environmental and social performance of a supplier before selecting them. In your pre-qualification questionnaire (PQQ) you may check:

You should make sure that your supplier is certified with an environmental management system (EMS) such as ISO 14001. This way you will be able to evaluate and monitor their environmental impact and performance, maintain legal compliance and gain senior management commitment.

Compliance with Environmental Legislation

You need to check if your supplier has ever been prosecuted for breaking the law

Product Environmental Impact

Make sure you are informed! Ask about the supplier’s resource use, if waste is created during its manufacture, whether they use hazardous substances or not, and how much packaging they use… You should make sure that they follow the same standards as you.

Delivery of your own Specific Environmental or Social Aims

Another way of reducing your carbon footprint is throughout your supply chain. You should become a signatory of the Ethical Trading Initiative base code.

Supplier Buying Practices

To make sure that your sustainability goals will be achieved one thing that you should do is check all your supply chain. In other words, you need to verify not only your direct suppliers but as well their suppliers. This can be useful in identifying environmental and social risks.

Social Responsibility Policy and Practices

Confirm if the supplier identifies and assesses their own social risks and those of their supply chain. As well, you should verify if the supplier monitors compliance with International Labour Organisation standards in their supply chains.