Newsroom Notes: Levi Strauss & Co. is raising the bar for supply chain sustainability

While the impact that the solid economy is having on logistics and supply chain operations is receiving the lion’s share of the headlines, there are a few other trends also garnering interest in the market.

One of those is supply chain sustainability, or “being green.” Over the years, there have been many examples of this at work, whether in the form of supply chain network design, site selection, or emission reduction efforts across fleet operations.

So, while evolving trends such as last-mile delivery management, blockchain, APIs and the Cloud, are getting more attention as of late, supply chain sustainability remains alive and well, and shouldn’t be overlooked.

That was made clear in a wide-ranging announcement last month by clothing retailer Levi Strauss & Co., regarding its new climate action strategy.

According to Levi, at the core of this strategy are new, aggressive targets for reducing carbon emissions across its owned-and-operated facilities and global supply chain by 2025. This includes using 100% renewable electricity in company-owned facilities by that time as well.

What’s more, the company noted that even though it has a proven history of reducing carbon emissions within its own operations, the most significant impact—as well as the most difficult—concerns its global supply chain.

With that as a backdrop, Levi’s stated emissions reduction goals include a 90% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions (GHG) in all owned and operated facilities (that Levi said will be achieved by investing in onsite renewable energy and energy efficiency upgrades); and a 40% reduction in GHG emissions in the supply chain through collaborating with key suppliers to expand the International Finance Corporation’s Partnership for Cleaner Textiles (IFC PaCT), a public-private partnership that provides suppliers with technical expertise and access to low-cost financing to support sustainable energy and water investments.

Levi Strauss & Co. president and CEO Chip Bergh said that the company is proud to be one of the first companies to set science-based targets for its global supply chain, adding the he hopes other organizations make similar commitments.

Bergh is dead on: It’s important for companies, especially large global ones like Levi, to take these steps. With finite resources in terms of energy consumption and related emissions factors, it makes sense and must happen on a much broader basis. However, it’s easily overlooked with companies often having a shorter-term vision that’s largely focused on earnings and returns instead of a long-term approach on things like sustainability efforts.

A report in The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) provided some perspective on how Levi plans to go about its supply chain sustainability goals beginning with implementing energy-efficiency programs at 60 of the 580 factories and mills that represent the largest share of Levi’s production volume—as well as its carbon footprint.

The WSJ report pointed out that, across various sectors, there has been “growing support for broader collective efforts to address sustainability and fair labor standards in supply chains.” It noted that the Consumer Goods Forum, an organization focused on developing and implementing global sustainability and labor standards, is playing a more active role on that front.

“One key way for shippers to meet their sustainability targets is by establishing common standards set through collaboration across supplier networks,” stated Yossi Sheffi, director of MIT’s Center for Transportation & Logistics, in the WSJ report.

The reason for this, Sheffi explained, is that it provides leverage, it doesn’t frustrate suppliers with different requirements, and it can be audited. Sheffi also noted that it can be hard for shippers to calculate their total carbon emissions due to the fact that the “true impact stretches beyond factories and even fabric mills to raw materials providers and transport operations.”

Supply chain sustainability is not optional and should be viewed as imperative. “Newsroom Notes” commends Levi Strauss & Co. for being an industry leader in these efforts.