SUSTAINABILITY
A global survey by Infosys of more than 2,500 business executives and managers found that many firms have not even taken the most basic steps to embed ESG principles into their supply chain .
The survey shows that 99 % of respondents want to align their supply chain partners and ESG goals , and that often this is a result of pressure from regulators , customers or investors .
A sizeable group of UK companies ( 40 %) say they already select partners or vendors based on ESG impact , the same as companies overall .
The pressure on businesses to make meaningful progress on ESG issues has never been more intense , and yet corporate behaviours around ESG are also being shaped in some unexpected ways by societal and regulatory pressure .
Ian Spaulding is CEO of LRQA , LRQA is one of the world ’ s leading providers of professional services for engineering and technology and for increasing the performance of critical infrastructures .
LRQA is a leading global ESG assurance partnerIts industry experts conduct an estimated 20,000 responsible sourcing and sustainability-related assessments across 100 countries each year .
Spaulding says 2023 saw human rights and child labour issues “ impact supply chains in the US and Europe , as well as in developing nations ”.
This , he says , has “ exposed significant gaps in the way that organisations address these risks ”.
134 April 2024