The document discusses the concept of sustainability and its growing importance for businesses in line with UN guidelines. It highlights the need for companies to implement sustainable practices across their supply chain to mitigate risks, save costs, enhance brand image, attract talent, and improve operational efficiency. Ultimately, it emphasizes that organizations of all sizes can contribute to sustainability efforts and benefit from aligning with the UN's Sustainable Development Goals.

1. Diogo Pereira, Marketing & Communication
11 Apr 2019, 3 minutes read time
Is your Supply Chain Sustainable?
In the past decade, businesses have been responding to United
Nations (UN) and global environmental agencies’ demands for them
to accommodate sustainability. For years, the public’s
understanding of sustainability was stuck to the imagery of
environmental protection measures. But today’s definition of
sustainability goes far beyond this. It needs to consider both the
planet and human race long term survival. So, what is sustainability
and how can your business contribute?
What is sustainability and sustainable development?
In 1987, the UN defined sustainability as “meeting the needs of the
present without compromising the ability of future generations to
 en

2. meet their own needs.” Later on, this concept was updated to the
current understanding of global justice “founded on respect for
nature, universal human rights, economic justice, and a culture of
peace.” In practical terms sustainability means re-examination of
organizations policies on 1) environmental protection, 2) social
responsibility and 3) economic practice.
In 2015, the UN created the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs),
aiming to see considerable improvements by 2030. These 17 goals
translate into actionable measures to achieve a sustainable future.
People – Planet – Profit: triple bottom line balance
Doing business is no longer just about maximizing profit. Now,
corporates and organizations increasingly develop their Corporate
Social Responsibility (CSR) policies to conjugate the economic,
social and environmental impact of their business. Simplifying, this
triple bottom line system often means looking in depth into the
three pillars. It should also involve all stakeholders raging from
employees, customers, suppliers, local residents, government
agencies, to creditors.
Businesses - as intersections of several economic, financial and
industry sectors - have a special responsibility to place themselves
as sustainability advocates. Businesses can start by ensuring all
links of their supply chain respect sustainable economic, social and
environmental business standards. Companies can never be too
small or too big to have an impact.

3. The benefits of a sustainable Supply Chain
Assessing and improving a supply chain can be costly, but the
benefits are always greater, especially in the long term. The most
obvious is securing a sustainable future in line with UN Sustainable
Development Goals. Some other benefits are visible in the shorter
term:
1. Reduce supply chain risks: We already saw that a supply chain
can have unknown risks like unfair labour conditions or heavy
climate impact. Reducing these risks means reducing your liability
on eventual negative aspects of the process and avoiding
unnecessary costs resulting from that.
2. Save costs: There are saving impacts all across your supply
chain. From more energy efficient buildings to cutting down on the
costs of hazardous waste management for e.g., if you run a
business there are ways for you to improve resource efficiency and
save.
3. Improve your brand image: If your company is contributing to a
sustainable development, don’t hesitate to spread the news. The
trend shows that consumers, investors and competitors will take
notice of your good practices. You might even inspire more
businesses to take action and join the sustainability movement.
4. Attract and retain talent: Like consumers, talent cares about
company values and policies. Highly qualified talent, especially
millennials, are more likely to choose to work and stay in a company
with positive social and sustainable practices. This purpose-led
choice can save your company a lot of money and time in
recruitment processes and training.
5. Achieve operational efficiency: Limit the waste of natural
resources and improve business growth by optimizing all your

4. p g y p g y
processes. This will result in significant savings. Most businesses
can find ways to implement lean processes. Take the example of
the logistics industry, where often delivery and pick-up routes are
not optimized and result in unnecessary fuel spending – this can
be easily avoided by using a delivery management platform like
Urbantz.
How sustainable is your business? Download our assessment guide
and find out for yourself!
Subscribe to our newsletter me@mycompany.com GO
Terms & Conditions
Contact
About us
Careers
Privacy Policy
 Brussels, Belgium
 info@urbantz.com
   
Copyri ght 2015-2019 URBANTZ S.A.,
Al l Ri ghts Reser ved
Our ants love cookies! Accept so that we can improve your browsing experience.
I accept
More information here