Retail surgery: As we are promoting our green credentials, how much focus should we put on asking suppliers to prove they are managing their emissions?

Suppliers are increasingly expected to demonstrate what they are doing to manage and minimise greenhouse gas emissions.

If your suppliers work with other global companies they should be used to this and may well be providing carbon footprint information to other customers.

Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP) chief executive Paul Dickinson says: “It is clear that some companies are now requiring their suppliers to address carbon management as a core business issue. This is no longer a ‘nice to have’ for the leaders, it is becoming a ‘need to have’ and we expect to see this trend growing across the whole business sector.”

AT Kearney has recently produced the second CDP Supply Chain report, which summarises climate change information from more than 700 suppliers. From these findings, it is clear that suppliers are increasingly up on their responsibilities in this area.

Some 48% of those surveyed have disclosed information to their customers through the CDP supply chain programme for the first time in 2009. 60% have appointed a board member responsible for climate change, 56% have a reduction plan and 38% have committed to clear targets that tend to be in a time frame of under two years.

AT Kearney partner and study co-leader Daniel Mahler says: “Major corporations are taking carbon reduction seriously and are developing strategies to address carbon emissions in their supply chains.”

He adds: “The challenge is for additional corporations and suppliers to operationalise their carbon-reduction strategies.”