Friday 17 March 2017

Co-op and Mars commit to greening supply chains

The Co-op and Mars are the first food and drink firms to join a new online platform for green co-operation.

The Manufacture 2030 initiative, launched by digital network business 2degrees, aims to reduce financial costs in companies' supply chains and minimise environmental impacts.

It hopes to achieve this by allowing retailers and suppliers to work more closely together, through an online hub where information regarding energy, water use and waste can be easily and quickly shared.

The platform, which is also being backed by a range of other companies including WRAP and npower, makes it easy for businesses to engage their suppliers, ask questions, make recommendations and align goals.

The firm behind the initiative estimates sustainable cross-industry collaboration could have a global value of around $12 trillion (£9.72tn) and create 380 million jobs by 2030.

Martin Chilcott, CEO of 2degrees, said: "The challenge for businesses is that most of that opportunity sits in sprawling supply chains and until Manufacture 2030 there has been no cost effective way to unlock it.

"The case for sustainable business has never been stronger. And now with Manufacture 2030, it has just got a lot easier."

Technology giant Apple and its suppliers reduced 13,800 metric tonnes of carbon emissions in 2015.