About Ethical Trade and Procurement
Ethical sourcing is a sustainable approach to procurement.
Ethical trade and sustainable procurement offer an opportunity for organisations to reflect their positive values along their supply chains and influence more sustainable use of a product or service. Typically it’s when businesses consider the impact of products they purchase on the people and communities who create and use them.
There is significant pressure from consumers, employees and investors to minimise the negative effects a business has socially, environmentally and economically.
An organisation’s supply chain is key to its sustainability strategy.
Ethical trade ensures that products and services have not been made at the expense of workers rights in global supply chains and that Corporate Social Responsibility is integrated into the procurement of goods.
Global organisations are expected to always act safely and responsibly and ensure their supply chains are ethical.
There is strong legislation surrounding ethical trade, these must be strictly adhered to. Supply chains providing the public sector, include a vast array of materials from around the world, so ensuring that these are ethically sourced is crucial.
Sustainable procurement integrates Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) into your organisation’s procurement processes. It can help your organisation to develop robust risk management, by being able to identify weaknesses and problems in your supply chain.
What we offer
At Cala Sustain we use our experience in sustainable procurement across multiple industries and sized businesses.
We take a long term approach, ensuring that the sustainable solutions will last and provide positive results for years to come.
Cala Sustain will help you transform your supply chain from the top-down, providing a platform to map out all of your suppliers, allowing for advanced reporting and collaboration.
Once this is embedded within your business, we can provide specialist solutions to enhance efficiencies and further improve sustainability performance.
Who Ethical Sourcing is for
The majority of a company’s revenue is spent throughout its supply chain. Therefore this is where there is the biggest potential for risk and opportunities for sustainability are.
In the Defence Industry, sustainable procurement and ethical trade are vital. The materials are sourced from across the globe, sometimes from areas where ethical issues are prevalent. As a result, it is crucial to have a strong procurement and trade strategy.
In consumer industries, sustainable procurement and ethical trade are still as important. Consumers and other stakeholders are increasingly interested in how the product or service has come to be. By ensuring you have maintained the highest level of scrutiny throughout your supply chain you can be confident in the product or service you are offering and minimise any negative impacts.
Benefits of Ethical Sourcing
- Adherence to the relevant standards
- Meet customer demand for socially responsible goods, potentially improving sales
- Build stakeholder trust in your business, helping to forge strong relationships
- Attract further investment
- Create efficiencies in the supply chain, saving money
How it works
We will help you develop, understand and implement a sustainable procurement plan helping you to make a positive difference to your business’ sustainability:
- Understand where you are now, your business sustainability strategy and your organisation’s goals
- Assess the upstream Environmental Social and Governance (ESG) footprint
- We will help to define your vision and set your sustainability goals for procurement; Where, when, and how far?
- Identify any vulnerabilities that you may have and how best to fix them
- Identify any human rights risks, allowing you to monitor, manage and report human rights issues
- Help to devise and implement policies and business principles that meet regulatory and customer demands
- Constantly look to sharpen policies and guidelines and embed skills that allow you to continue sustainable procurement practices