The tool was created in conjunction with more than twenty leading global suppliers to P&G. The company claims that it will measure energy and water use, waste disposal and greenhouse gases on a year-to-year basis.
Far reaching goals
The past year has seen a strong drive towards environmental sustainability across the personal care industry in general. P&G hopes to cement this movement by setting a standard of sustainability with the scorecard, which will be ‘open code’ for use by any organization to help promote cooperation in supply chain evaluation between companies.
While it is a P&G scheme, the aims behind the scorecard have far-reaching goals. As part of its efforts to create an initiative that can have cross-industry impact, the company will be encouraging its suppliers to use the scorecard within their own supply chains.
P&G claims the overall goal is to enhance supply chain collaboration, measure and improve key environmental sustainability indicators and encourage the ‘sharing of ideas’ across the industry.
Next step in commitment to sustainability
“The launch of the Supplier Environmental Sustainability Scorecard represents the next step in P&G's commitment to environmental sustainability and reflects the Company's holistic, end-to-end supply chain strategy,” said chairman and chief executive Bob McDonald.
“Keeping Sustainability at the core of our business fuels innovation and strengthens our results," he added.
The key to the scorecard’s success rests upon how many suppliers choose to get on board. P&G emphasizes that it is specifically designed to focus on, and encourage, year-on-year improvement - regardless of a supplier's total size or the current stage of its sustainability program.
In addition, suppliers will have a full year to prepare and report their data before the rating can adversely impact their supplier rating with P&G. After this, P&G will use the scorecard to determine each supplier's sustainability rating as part of its annual supplier performance measurement process.
Collaboration with supplier sustainability board
The scorecard is the result of 18 months of work and close collaboration with the company’s supplier sustainability board, which includes more than 20 leading supplier representatives from P&G's global supply chain.
“We worked closely with a global team of P&G personnel, suppliers and supply chain experts to determine the most effective way to measure the environmental performance of our diverse global supplier base," said Rick Hughes, P&G global purchasing officer.
"Our suppliers wanted a tool that was flexible yet grounded in existing measurement standards and, by working together, we developed a framework that will help drive real improvement across all industries."