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Contents

STATE OF SUPPLY CHAIN SUSTAINABILITY 2023

Sustainability Contains Multitudes

CSCMP
MIT-CTL-SSCS-2022

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SPONSORED BY

Avetta
C.H. Robinson

INTRODUCTION

The past and present wilt—I have fill’d them, emptied them.
And proceed to fill my next fold of the future.

Listener up there! what have you to confide to me?
Look in my face while I snuff the sidle of evening,
(Talk honestly, no one else hears you, and I stay only a minute longer.)

Do I contradict myself?
Very well then I contradict myself,
(I am large, I contain multitudes.)

I concentrate toward them that are nigh, I wait on the door-slab.

Who has done his day’s work? who will soonest be through with his supper?
Who wishes to walk with me?

Will you speak before I am gone? will you prove already too late?

Walt Whitman
Song of Myself, 51

Four years is a long time. In the experience of many of us, it is the duration of both our secondary and tertiary education. In the United States, four years is the length of one presidential administration. Four years pass between Olympic Games and World Cup events. The expectation that over four years circumstances change, some positions reverse, and some problems are solved, is almost hard-wired into Western readers’ systems.

This year’s report marks the fourth year of the annual State of Supply Chain Sustainability report. Every year since 2020, the MIT Center for Transportation & Logistics and the Council of Supply Chain Management Professionals have been surveying supply chain professionals about their firms’ supply chain sustainability efforts. Through this research, we have endeavored to learn which issues and practices have risen and fallen in the eyes of the global community of supply chain professionals over time. We have also studied how different sources of pressure have come to influence firms’ sustainability journeys. More than anything, we have found that these topics are complex; some trends have changed over four years while others remain consistent. Echoing Walt Whitman, the supply chain sustainability journey is a long one, and it contains multitudes.

Our fourth installment shows that commitment to supply chain sustainability appears to be resilient to certain types of crises, but vulnerable to others. Large-scale network disruptions, like those precipitated by the Covid-19 crisis and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022 are shown to actually result in increased commitment to supply chain sustainability among many firms. On the other hand, in 2023 many firms’ sustainability efforts appear to be have been especially sensitive to this year’s negative economic forecasts.

We also observe that sustainability commitments are not consistently distributed across supply chains and around the world. In particular, net-zero carbon emissions goals appear to be clustered in wealthier countries. This gives rise to concern about whether the global ambitions of net-zero goals can be achieved with only localized adoption.

In addition to these emergent concerns, we also see that over four consecutive years some things also stay the same. In this period, pressure on supply chain professionals to improve their firms’ supply chain sustainability profile grows every year across every measure that we track. And every year, the path towards achieving those goals appears to cross supply chains. This year we see that collaboration across supply chains appears to be especially important as firms struggle to measure and to reduce their Scope 3 emissions.

The value of this report to supply chain executives and practitioners alike cannot be overstated. Now in our fourth consecutive year, results are a must-read. Worldwide, the findings and supporting commentary found in this report continue to demonstrate the criticality of the supply chain “doing the right things right” for society. When companies speak of their contribution towards environmental and social responsibility, they speak to the work of the supply chain. CSCMP and MIT present to you the fourth edition of the most valuable tool in benchmarking your supply chain sustainability progress.

Mark Baxa, President & CEO, CSCMP

2.3k

Global respondents to the survey

66%

With firms who have net-zero goals expect to meet their goal by 2040 or sooner

65%

Said their firm does not have a net-zero goal

6%

Increase in commitment to climate change mitigation

Supply chains inherently require a significant amount of collaboration between partners, but just communicating regularly about your sustainability goals is not enough. You can’t manage what you can’t measure. In order to start moving the needle, supply chain partners need to leverage shared technology that can serve as a single source of truth for them to collectively measure the results of their sustainability efforts.

Brian Cristol, CEO and Co-Founder, Isometric Technologies

Supply chain sustainability strategies that are driven by short-term thinking are susceptible to many different types of disruptions, from government regulations and economic conditions to other global influences. When our customers experience unexpected disruptions, we see that their strategies tend be steadied by their long-term sustainability aspirations and a continued focus on those future milestones.

Brittany Brama, Sustainability Manager, C.H. Robinson

Scope 3 continues to be elusive at scale because of still evolving definitional boundaries that vary by region and vertical, as well as the sheer complexity of managing and monitoring the supply chain where much of Scope 3 lies. Many businesses are forced to use estimations, which open risk to green-washing, or set their own scope, which opens risk to shifting metrics year over year.

Katie Martin, Principal Lead, Sustainability & ESG, Avetta

The value of this report to supply chain executives and practitioners alike cannot be overstated. Now in our fourth consecutive year, results are a must-read. Worldwide, the findings and supporting commentary found in this report continue to demonstrate the criticality of the supply chain “doing the right things right” for society. When companies speak of their contribution towards environmental and social responsibility, they speak to the work of the supply chain. CSCMP and MIT present to you the fourth edition of the most valuable tool in benchmarking your supply chain sustainability progress.

Mark Baxa, President & CEO, CSCMP

Companies say, “Hey, as a supplier of ours, here’s what our expectations are of you.… You need to hit X, Y, and Z when it comes to ESG.” That is happing more and more often. But another piece is on the value creation side, where the shippers will say, “Not only do we require this of you as a bare minimum of what you’re doing with your own work, but how can you help us? What are some of the basic things we can do together to reduce emissions?”

Rachel Schwalbach, Vice President for Environmental, Social & Governance, C.H. Robinson

Social policies have grown significantly over the past few years driven by societal movements that have driven focus on diversity, equity, inclusion, individual health, and well-being. Company executives, investors and HR teams are focused on implementing social programs to ensure happier and healthier employees to meet this growing societal demand. People also wish to work in environments that focus on the whole person, and not just the well-being of the company.

Taylor Allis, Chief Product and Marketing Officer, Avetta