The 3 Cs Of Supply Chain Sustainability: Commitment, Collaboration And Consistency

The 3 Cs Of Supply Chain Sustainability: Commitment, Collaboration And Consistency

Sustainability is not an isolated matter for firms to address – but a corporate issue that impacts a myriad of practices and business decisions. Data and regulatory challenges in the supply chain create interdependencies across different teams, making it fundamental for organizations to adopt a triple lens approach based on shared commitment, open collaboration and consistent data collection and sharing.

Blurred regulatory boundaries across various sustainability-related topics – such as product stewardship, circular economy and chemical management – have pushed EHS, ESG, risk, operations and procurement teams to seek further integration, to build efficiency and protect the integrity of sustainability claims. For example, the German Supply Chain Due Diligence Act includes elements of the Stockholm Convention On Persistent Organic Pollutants (POCs) – an overlap that requires firms to pull out consistent data that reflect their product and material footprints across the value chain (see Verdantix Product Compliance And Sustainability: A Symbiotic Relationship). This overlap is particularly relevant for those firms operating in consumer-sensitive industries – such as consumer goods, manufacturing and retail – which often leverage sustainable performance as a key driver of consumer engagement and brand recognition. 

Given the corporate focus on sustainability integration, an increasing number of vendors from the EHS and ESG spaces are offering combined product and supply chain data management functionality, to help firms reduce supplier fatigue, foster data alignment across internal stakeholders and boost consistent reporting. For example, vendors with supply chain sustainability software – such as Cority, iPoint and Source Intelligence – enable access to the critical product: the sustainability data that firms need to comply with chemical and ESG supply chain regulations (see Verdantix Smart Innovators: Product And Chemical Compliance Solutions).

The development of combined sustainability solutions has led to plenty of M&A activity, especially in the EHS and ESG software market. For example, in 2023 EcoOnline acquired sustainability software provider Ecometrica and Cority acquired supply chain sustainability software vendor Greenstone. Sphera recently announced the acquisition of SupplyShift, a California-based software provider for enhanced supplier engagement. Venture capital and private equity investors have also been active players in the market. In March 2023 Germany-headquartered IntegrityNext raised $109 million in funding from EQT Group. In June, New York-based Sourcemap raised $20 million in funding from Energize Ventures. This appetite also translates to specialist vendors such as TrusTrace – a traceability solution provider for the fashion industry – which recently secured a $24 million growth investment led by Circularity Capital.

Investment in the supply chain sustainability software market will continue to grow in 2024, as supply chain fragilities push firms to seek internal alignment on ESG matters. This will trigger the demand for digital tools that offer technical expertise and adaptability to fit the language of a wider range of stakeholders from EHS, sustainability, procurement and operations teams.

To learn more about these synergies and how software vendors address this need, see Verdantix Strategic Focus: Influence Of Scope 3 And Product Compliance On Supply Chain Sustainability, and look out for the upcoming Verdantix Strategic Focus report on traceability in the supply chain.