Environmental atlas for supply chains in Switzerland

With the import of raw materials and intermediate products, the Swiss economy is closely intertwined with global markets. This entails entrepreneurial opportunities and risks - profiling and market success on the one hand, weather-related failures and price fluctuations, reputation risks due to social and ecological problems, shortages due to the overexploitation of natural resources, or tightening of the respective local legislation to protect the environment on the other.

"Knowing supply chains and making them sustainable" is therefore an important pillar in the programme of the "Go for Impact" association (GfI). Since 2018, GfI has been supporting Swiss businesses in reducing their negative and increasing their positive environmental impact at home and abroad. With the "Environmental Atlas Supply Chains Switzerland", companies from eight relevant Swiss industries are offered support for their supply chain management.

Environmental hotspots in the supply chain

Supply chains often span the entire globe. As a result, the environmental impacts caused by the production of goods are also distributed around the world. Often, the environmental impacts that occur in a company's supply chain are higher than those that occur in the industry in Switzerland itself. Small, open economies such as Switzerland are particularly dependent on global supply chains.

"Companies are increasingly expected to look at their supply chains and create transparency about the impacts in the upstream stages of the value chain," says Kurt Lanz, President of GfI and member of the Executive Board of Economiesuisse. In order to support companies in this, the Federal Office for the Environment (FOEN), as a member of "Go for Impact", has initiated and financed a study in close cooperation with the business community, which shows the environmental hotspots in the supply chain of eight relevant Swiss industries. Based on the study, the "Environmental Atlas of Swiss Supply Chains" was created, in which the results of the study were graphically presented. This was presented to a broad audience at today's general assembly of "Go for Impact".

Mostly limited human and financial resources

"Since the environmental impacts of many Swiss industries lie to a large extent in upstream stages of the value chain, it was important to provide companies with guidance to help them identify relevant environmental issues and key areas for action to reduce environmental impacts in their supply chain," says Sibyl Anwander of the FOEN.

"The identification of relevant environmental issues subsequently allows the usually limited human and financial resources to be used efficiently and effectively. Swiss industries benefit twice over, as on the one hand they can reduce costs through increased resource efficiency, and on the other hand they minimise risks in supply chains," adds Susanna Fieber, who led the project at the FOEN.

Initiatives, standards and projects

"In addition to the environmental hotspots and priority areas for action, the Environmental Atlas Supply Chains Switzerland also shows which initiatives, standards and projects already exist in the respective sectors," also explains Olmar Albers from öbu.

Ion Karagounis from WWF adds that WWF has been successfully pursuing the supply chain approach for almost two decades with many large companies, such as Coop and Migros. In the chemical industry, too, many companies have developed long-term initiatives to steadily reduce the environmental impact of their supply chains. "Givaudan, for example, has initiated a programme to make the supply chain of natural raw materials more transparent and to achieve both social and environmental improvements in the producing countries," reports Linda Kren of Scienceindustries.

First projects already underway

It is clear that companies do not have to reinvent the wheel. On the contrary: "A lot of preparatory work has already been done in individual sectors; now it is a question of exchanging experience and exploiting synergies in the implementation of a wide range of supply chain projects that contribute to reducing environmental impact and strengthening competitiveness," says Christine Roth of Swissmem.

The associations involved in the "Go for Impact" association will use the Swiss Supply Chain Environmental Atlas to support their member companies in reducing their environmental impact along the value chain in the coming years. The first "Go for Impact" projects are already underway.

Click here for the "Environmental Atlas Supply Chains Switzerland" as pdf-file!