Supplier Introduction to Green Supply Chain Management
Why green supply chains?
Ensuring complete environmental compliance has never been more important in China’s manufacturing history. Multinational and domestic brands are increasingly concerned about their environmental risks due to China’s unprecedented measures to strengthened environmental law enforcement in recent years. Since 2016, China has dispatched several rounds of central government inspectors to crack down on lax regulation at the local level, increasing the rate of factory closures, production halts and supply chain disruptions. In addition, in February 2022, the Measures for the Administration of Legal Disclosure of Enterprise Environmental Information and the Format Guidelines for Legal Disclosure of Enterprise Environmental Information came into effect. These propose that entities (such as key emission units, enterprises implementing mandatory cleaner production audits, listed companies and subsidiaries at all levels within the scope of consolidated statements and debt-issuing enterprises) should disclose information regarding pollutant emissions; toxic and hazardous substance emissions; industrial solid waste and hazardous waste generation, storage, distribution, utilization, and disposal; as well as carbon emissions.
IPE therefore encourages suppliers of all sizes to track their own performance and respond to any issues in a timely manner, actively carry out energy conservation and emissions reduction, and encourage their affiliated companies and companies along their supply chains to conduct environmental information disclosure in accordance with the law.
How do I know if I have environmental violation records?
Suppliers can find their previous regulatory records in IPE’s Blue Map database, which contains 2.69 million corporate violation records and real-time emissions monitoring data for over 18,000 high impact factories.
What should I do if I find a violation record?
IPE requests that suppliers submit a public explanation detailing the cause of the violation and their rectification plans. This step demonstrates to stakeholders that you are aware of the issue and actively resolving it. Non-compliance records may be removed via GCA audits. Click to read more.
Public Explanations and Record RemovalHow can I demonstrate more advanced environmental responsibility?
Suppliers are strongly encouraged to go beyond basic regulatory compliance by monitoring and steadily reducing their energy, water, and chemical use, as well as GHG emissions and pollution discharge. By publishing an annual PRTR data form, suppliers demonstrate that they are monitoring their overall environmental footprint and setting targets to reduce their impacts.
Pollutant Release and Transfer Registry (PRTR) is an environmental database or inventory of both hazardous chemical substances and conventional pollutants released into the air, water and soil and transferred off-site for treatment and disposal collected on an annual basis. PRTR reporting systems are commonly used in the U.S., the E.U., Japan and other regions around the world.
For more information, please see the report: Establishing a PRTR Disclosure System in China
How can I decrease vulnerability to my own supply chain disruptions?
Suppliers can use IPE’s supply chain oversight tools to search for and track their upstream and downstream partners. This step ideally extends to all enterprises in which the company has invested or relies on for production, including all tiers of material production, logistics and service providers, wastewater treatment and and hazardous waste treatment plants.
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Raw Materials
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Processing
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Manufacturing & Assembly
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Direct Suppliers
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Waste Treatment
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Packaging
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Retail & Distribution
Since 2006, over 20,000 factories have responded to their environmental records and publicly disclose their environmental information. Join leading enterprises in environmental responsibility and sustainability today.
