The Environment + The Supply Chain: What Does the Future Hold?

The supply chain is a prime perpetrator of environmental impact, and reversing that dynamic is a key priority for leaders around the world. In the latest issue of PARCEL Magazine, Trax Group Executive Vice President, Steve Beda, spoke directly about environmental sustainability initiatives in the supply chain.

He covered the following points.

1. Supply Chain Executives Agree on Environmental Priorities

Steve cited a survey out of Oxford, conducted in 2021, that reported 73% of executive leaders in the supply chain rank environmental sustainability as a “major concern.” Even over the course of the past year, there have been major shifts in environmental priorities that are reflected not just in public statements but in budgets, operational shifts, and timed plans. Everyone leading in the supply chain agrees that environmental priorities have to be resourced, and seen through to ensure goals are met.

We readily acknowledge that, while we agree it is necessary, change is not easy. To learn more about the primary factors impacting efforts toward environmental sustainability in the supply chain, read: 3 Factors Impacting Environmental Sustainability in Supply Chains.

2. Four Early Initiatives Must be Part of the Plan

For environmental sustainability to be successful, it must be operationalized. And this is fundamentally challenging in an industry that uses energy and nonrenewable resources. Steve identifies four early initiatives that will help companies succeed:

1. Making a realistic plan, set against a timeline.
2. Creating a roadmap that includes phases, incremental progress, and benchmarks.
3. Collecting and reporting on the right data is absolutely imperative, something that Trax has sought to solve for in our new carbon emissions tracker (more on that below).
4. Celebrating success along the way.

Without a clear plan for both strategy and tactics, it’s likely that organizations will falter and some may completely fail in their attempts to operate in an environmentally sustainable way.

Related: Read about CO2 in the Supply Chain: New Tactics to Support Environmental Sustainability.

3. Facilitate Paradigm Shifts

Change management is a critical process. Leaders not only have to consider the operational components, but the psychological ones. This means facilitating paradigm shifts. Steve gave three tips for making this work:

1. Embed environmentalism into everything else, making it part of mission/vision/values and company culture.
2. Get as many people on board as possible, considering how to catalyze grassroots efforts that will take hold at every level of an organization.
3. Incentivize and reward, making sure you regularly acknowledge participation and uphold this as a key performance indicator.

Any change comes with challenges. Read about the 5 Key Challenges to Building a Supply Chain With Environmental Sustainability in Mind.

Trax Carbon Emissions Manager

Current customers of Trax’s tech suite for supply chain enjoy a newly launched Carbon Emissions Manager. Evaluation is the first step supply chain companies will make progress toward meaningful change. 

To learn more about the Trax Carbon Emissions Manager, click here.

Want to become a Trax customer? Join other global, enterprise organizations in leveraging technology to accelerate progress in your company. Connect with us anytime to get started.

Access the full article on page 32 of the May-June 2022 issue of PARCEL Magazine.