For most retailers implementing a sustainability strategy, a high proportion of impacts are derived from the supply of goods and services. For Specsavers, carbon emissions emanating from our supply chain (Scope 3) make up more than 90% of our total footprint.
With so much of our impact being out of our direct control, partnering with our suppliers is critical to the delivery of our sustainability ambitions. One of our key principles is leading by example and in this respect, Specsavers is fortunate to also be a manufacturer.
This gives us the ability to learn our own lessons and engage with our supply base in a way that is built on the foundation of understanding commercial operations. My colleagues in our manufacturing and distribution operations in the UK and Hungary have implemented some significant changes to our processes to reduce our carbon emissions.
Critically, these changes either make an immediate saving on carbon and help reduce energy costs, or in the case of solar panels, have a clearly defined payback that will save money in the medium term. With this as a starting point, our engagement with suppliers begins with understanding the challenges that we share and the opportunities for us to solve problems together.
Our sustainability strategy is stretching and the ultimate objective is to be net zero carbon by 2050 (at the latest). By retail standards, these objectives are long term. Manufacturing, particularly in capital intensive industries, requires certainty and security in order to make investments over time.
This is important to understand when we have discussions with our suppliers. Our approach is to determine where we can achieve progress cost effectively, in the short term, while we concurrently work on longer term challenges that will require bigger investment.
Learnings
Our learnings to date show that our suppliers are at various stages of their own sustainability journeys. We are fortunate that a significant proportion share our commitment to a science aligned, carbon reduction trajectory and this is a good indicator that they share our ambitions. Other suppliers are still exploring the best way forward, so we engage in a way that supports them.
A common thread is that all the suppliers we have engaged with to date understand that addressing the climate crisis is an important issue for their business, customers and society as a whole. Our combined challenge is one of moving to a sustainable supply model that is consistent with hundreds of businesses remaining profitable – it is not easy, but it is achievable.
In order for us to measure our success, Specsavers has invested in systems to track our progress on carbon emission reduction. While this is critical for us to have a clear view of where our hotspots are, our decision was also based on the ability for our suppliers to use the data to build a picture of their own businesses’ impact and to pinpoint potential reductions.
We are starting to roll out this software with our suppliers, which is at zero cost to them and will be a significant tool in delivering our collective ambitions. The other important aspect of our sustainability plan is going to be innovation in manufacturing technologies and materials.
The carbon impact of our products and packaging are the main contributors to our emissions and therefore finding low to zero carbon alternatives is going to be critical to our success. We are already seeing astonishing developments in this space with suppliers offering us zero carbon alternatives that are commercially viable now. Undoubtedly industry collaboration will be required to scale some of these developments.
In closing, engaging our suppliers is the most critical part of achieving our collective ambitions. Our shared expertise is better when combined and the scale of the challenge requires a collaborative approach.
- Mark Yates is head of sustainability – supply chain, Specsavers