Viewpoint: Engaging suppliers in a sustainability strategy

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.