Continuous improvement in the value chain
As a major buyer with a significant annual purchasing volume, Storebrand wants to work with our suppliers towards more sustainable practices. Through mapping, follow-up and by setting clear climate targets for our suppliers, we work actively to reduce carbon emissions in the real economy.
From sustainable to net zero emissions
Storebrand has for a long time had several minimum requirements for our suppliers with regards to sustainability, and weighted sustainability at least 20% in our tender processes. With a new framework for follow-up and evaluation, our goal is that all suppliers shall achieve net zero emissions from its business within 2050.
Our approach
Our approach focuses on collaboration for continuous improvement towards more sustainable practices defined by the questions we ask suppliers and partners.
We select
Sustainability is weighted at least at least 20% in our tender processes. Through the supplier mapping and evaluation, we give an advantage to suppliers that perform well on sustainability.
We work actively to influence
We use our position as a major buyer to influence suppliers and business partners for improvement. We do this both when we consider entering into new agreements and evaluating existing ones.
We exclude
Storebrand shall not choose vendors, products or services that are in violation of international agreements, national regulations or internal policies. This is described in our sourcing principles.
Mapping suppliers
To get an overview of how good our suppliers are when it comes to sustainability, we are now mapping all suppliers with annual sales volume to Storebrand of more than 1 million NOK, through a questionnaire divided into the following main areas:
- How sustainability is integrated into suppliers' strategies
- Environmental performance over time and targets
- Diversity performance over time and targets
- Environmental, quality and management systems
- To measure progress, annual reporting on sustainability will be effective from 2020.
An extended set of questions is also used to evaluate suppliers in purchasing processes. Below you will find the questions we ask in purchasing processes, and how we have answered these questions ourselves.
Net Zero by 2050:
What do we expect?
What we want to achieve is a real-world reduction in carbon emissions from our suppliers. Hence, we encourage our suppliers to:
- Measure their greenhouse gas emissions - also called the carbon footprint
- Set verifiable emission reduction targets
- Reduce emissions as much as possible through their own actions
- Introduce appropriate measures to compensate for own emissions that cannot be avoided in short terms
Climate goals
The Supplier shall achieve net zero emissions from its business within 2050 by:
- Measure and report on carbon emissions from the company
- Within the end of 2025, set science-based targets in line with relevant industry standards to reduce carbon emissions.
Focus on human rights and decent working conditions:
What do we expect?
We expect all our suppliers to take a proactive approach when it comes to social conditions both in their own operations and in their supply chain. We encourage our suppliers to have:
- Guidelines and policies that safeguard human rights and decent working conditions, anchored at the highest level internally
- Corresponding guidelines for its subcontractors
- Established formalized process to assess, mitigate and manage risks of human rights violations
- Established mechanisms and routines to follow up risks in their own supply chain
- Has signed the UN Global Compact's 10 Principles for responsible business and ensures that subcontractors do the same
Furthermore, we want suppliers, upon request, to be able to state their most significant risk areas for violation of human rights and decent working conditions and how they follow up on these risk areas, both in their own business and in their supply chain.
Contact us!
If you have questions or other input related to the way we work with sustainable procurement, or if you need further information, feel free to send us an email. If you are one of our suppliers and have not yet received the supplier survey, please contact us as soon as possible.
