Programme for Sustainability Governance in Global Supply Chains

projekt beendet

BackgroundGlobal supply chains usually lack transparency due to a strong global interlacing of international markets for goods, services, factors of production and financial capital with numerous various actors involved. In industrialized countries, companies often cannot exclude negative social, ecological or economic impacts of their economic activities in other parts of the world. Therefore, these companies are often unable to act upon improvement. The risk of negative impacts is especially high in production stages that take place in developing countries or emerging market countries where necessary governmental laws are missing or not implemented. Hence, industrialized countries and parts of the civil society more and more demand evidence of sustainability requirements during production processes. In response, numerous multinational companies have agreed to significant self-commitments concerning the purchase of raw materials with sustainable supply chains. At this, standards and independent conformity testing (such as certification systems) help to bring forward proofs of sustainability. Existing standard systems, however, are stretched to their limits when broadly introduced to the mass market. Apart from that, there is a lack of an overall concept for the harmonization of existing and new approaches in order to establish a both trustworthy and efficient and integrated sustainability management within global supply chains.ObjectiveThe sector project aims at effectively establishing and piloting concepts for sustainability governance in selected supply chains and their successful implementation.Thereof, the following objective derives: The sustainability governance of supply chains is strengthened.The following fields of action are concentrated on:1. Advisory service to BMZ on questions of sustainability in supply chains and positioning within political discourses.2. Increasing the efficiency of sustainability governance3. Strategies on the promotion of supply chains4. Integration of standards in regulations and policiesApproachThe sector project aims at strengthening sustainability governance in supply chains and thus contributes to achieve the BMZ’s objectives in the field of Social and Environmental Standards or sustainability standards. The sector project is based both on previous projects in this topic area and on cooperation with existing initiatives on sustainability standards in various sectors such as agricultural products, timber products and textiles. The latter mostly target the promotion and harmonization of existing and new approaches of sustainability management where especially partners in the private sector are already involved.Cooperation with political decision makers is significant in order to establish a legal framework to integrate sustainability standards in regulatory processes like for example the European Timber Regulation (EUTR).The Strategy of Capacity Developing is targeting professionals and decision makers to be trained and qualified accordingly. The development of training measures is an integral part of the project.ImpactsThe sector project cooperates with political and scientific decision makers in industrialized, emerging and developing countries. Therefore, the demand for sustainably produced products is increased and enabling a political framework is strengthened in consumer and producer countries. The effects of the sector project are focused on emerging and developing countries.

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