EcoVadis 2021 Sustainable Procurement Barometer: The Number of Executives that Say Delivering on Corporate Sustainability Goals is “Very Important” More than Doubles

EcoVadis, the world’s most trusted provider of business sustainability ratings, today released its 2021 Sustainable Procurement Barometer. Conducted with Stanford Graduate School of Business, the research found that delivering on corporate sustainability goals has shifted to the top of the executive agenda, with 63% of executives now saying it’s very important, compared to only 25% two years ago.

“Many feared that the pandemic would negatively impact global sustainability progress. Our research found the opposite to be true – sustainability commitments and investments held steady or increased for 93% organizations,” said Pierre-Francois Thaler, co-founder and co-CEO, EcoVadis. “As procurement teams look to rebuild, many are realizing that strong sustainable procurement practices are essential to bolstering resilience and creating value.”

While corporate commitments and public pressure have increased globally, delivering on goals – especially in the supply chain – remains a work in progress. Only 48% of supplier respondents believe that the buying organizations they work with are truly engaged in sustainability and actively partner with them to foster sustainability practices in their commercial relationships. More alarmingly, 46% of suppliers said sustainability is important to their customers on paper, but is not reflected in the way they work together.

Select findings from the 2021 Sustainable Procurement Barometer include:

• Labor and human rights issues shape procurement strategy. In order, procurement organizations are prioritizing labor and human rights issues, followed by the environment, social issues, and business ethics, in their two – three-year strategies.
• Procurement is now paying attention to diversity, racism, nondiscrimination, and equity. 61% of procurement leaders say social issues will be “more important” or “significantly more important” over the next two to three years.
• Sustainable procurement proves key to supply chain resilience. 63% of corporate respondents, and 71% of supplier respondents, report that their sustainable procurement initiative helped them endure the COVID-19 pandemic.
• Sustainability performance is critical for revenue and growth. 69% of respondents are taking sustainability performance into consideration when selecting new suppliers and renewing contracts – up from 51% in 2019.
• Mid-size companies (from $100M to $1Bn in revenue) are embracing sustainability. 48% believe sustainability will have a net positive financial impact on their business, while 47% expect a sustainable approach to lead to improved operational efficiency and lower costs.

Conducted with the Value Chain Innovation Initiative at Stanford Graduate School of Business, the 2021 Sustainable Procurement Barometer is based on analysis from two surveys: one for buyers and one for suppliers, conducted as online questionnaires, followed by in-depth interviews with selected participants.

“At a time when the disruptions resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic and other disasters have led many companies to shift their focus to building resiliency in their supply chains, this timely report provides practitioners answers to four key questions: what exactly sustainable procurement is, who should be involved, why it should be done and how it can be achieved,” advised Professor Hau Lee, Faculty Codirector, Value Chain Innovation Initiative at Stanford Graduate School of Business.

For a detailed analysis of the key trends and issues in the sustainable procurement landscape today, download the 2021 Sustainable Procurement Barometer.

About EcoVadis

EcoVadis is the world’s most trusted provider of business sustainability ratings, intelligence and collaborative performance improvement tools for global supply chains. Backed by a powerful technology platform and a global team of domain experts, EcoVadis’ easy-to-use and actionable sustainability scorecards provide detailed insight into environmental, social and ethical risks across 200 purchasing categories and 160 countries. Industry leaders such as Johnson & Johnson, Verizon, L’Oréal, Subway, Nestlé, Salesforce, Michelin and BASF are among the more than 75,000 businesses on the EcoVadis network, all working with a single methodology to evaluate, collaborate and improve sustainability performance in order to protect their brands, foster transparency and innovation, and accelerate growth. Learn more on ecovadis.com, Twitter or LinkedIn.

About VCII

The Value Chain Innovation Initiative brings together academics, industry leaders and practitioners to advance the theory and practice of global value chain innovation through research and knowledge dissemination. Housed within the Graduate School of Business at Stanford University, we seek to understand the economic and social impacts of the global dynamics and technologies that are reshaping businesses, industries, and ecosystems across the value chain. Our research and professional workshops focus on addressing problems that are highly relevant to the greater global business community and cover a broad range of topics including global supply chain design in complex trade environments, responsible supply chains, technological innovations and their impact on value chains, and more. Learn more at gsb.stanford.edu/vcii.

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