Building a sustainable supply chain: where to start when you're an SME?
For a company, building a sustainable supply chain is no longer just an asset: it has become a necessity. In a context marked by growing pressure from customers, consumers, and investors, companies must demonstrate their ability to integrate responsible practices into their purchasing and production processes.
Sustainable management of eco-responsible suppliers, partners, raw materials, and logistics is not limited to reducing the carbon footprint: it also affects cost control, resilience to unforeseen events, and the ability to respond to new market expectations. Having reliable data is therefore an essential prerequisite for managing such an approach.
Fortunately, there are now tools and methods available to guide SMEs through this transition. This is precisely GCI's goal with Decarbo'Solution®, a winning three-pronged approach that helps organizations transform their supply chain into a lever for performance and sustainability.
Contents
Understanding the impact of your supply chain
The weight of upstream Scope 3
When a company looks at its carbon footprint, it often thinks about internal energy consumption or employee travel. However, most of the impact comes from elsewhere: purchasing, services, and logistics. This is referred to as upstream Scope 3, which can account for more than 80% of the total footprint. Ignoring this means neglecting the bulk of the company's environmental impact.
Mapping partners and flows
Understanding your supply chain requires a detailed analysis of the flows and players involved. Who are your strategic partners? Where are they located, in France or elsewhere in the world? What types of products or services do they deliver to you, and with what resources or materials?
Having reliable data not only makes it possible to measure carbon footprints, but also to anticipate changes in production and logistics. This approach provides a clear view of the chain and facilitates prioritization.
Putting information at the heart of management
An effective strategy relies on solid information. Too many SMEs lack accurate indicators to track their environmental footprint. Without figures, it is impossible to accurately assess areas for improvement.
We recommend implementing a simple monitoring system: location of partners, volumes transported, distances traveled, energy consumption, and quantities of waste generated. These elements can be integrated into your existing tools or into new traceability technologies.
Equip and train teams
Raising awareness and training buyers or logistics managers is essential. Understanding the concept of carbon footprints, knowing how to read indicators, and discussing climate issues with partners increases the effectiveness of the approach. Teams can then propose concrete levers: optimizing flows, limiting distances traveled, improving inventory organization, or exploring new, more sustainable manufacturing methods.
In English-language literature (value chains), this type of approach is described as a gradual evolution that helps organizations better manage their vulnerabilities and structure their transition toward greater sustainability.
Master a new vocabulary to ensure the long-term future of your company.
Integrating CSR and carbon criteria into supplier relationships
Going beyond price: responsible purchasing
In a company, the choice of partners is often based on traditional criteria: price, delivery times, product quality. However, building a sustainable supply chain requires integrating other dimensions related to the environment and ethics.
Including these parameters allows:
- to reduce the carbon footprint by promoting local or sustainable resources,
- to limit financial and reputational threats,
- to meet the growing expectations of consumers and customers.
Many SMEs are discovering that this approach also drives sustainable development and economic performance.
The methodology for awarding the label
In a company, the choice of partners is often based on traditional criteria: price, delivery times, product quality. However, building a sustainable supply chain requires integrating other dimensions related to the environment and ethics.
Including these parameters allows:
- to reduce the carbon footprint by promoting local or sustainable resources,
- to limit financial and reputational threats,
- to meet the growing expectations of consumers and customers.
Many SMEs are discovering that this approach also drives sustainable development and economic performance.
Establish a clear and objective structure
Implementing a responsible purchasing policy requires defining an appropriate structure. This may include:- traceability of materials and manufacturing processes,
- the footprint associated with logistics,
- compliance with recognized environmental management standards (ISO 14001, etc.),
- the existence of social or virtuous approaches.
A balanced relationship
Companies that commit to this approach are opening the door to a circular economy that combines competitiveness and responsibility.
Firstly, the use of GCI has enabled a significant reduction in the uncertainty of the GHG Balance, particularly for scope 3, from 50% to 5%. The Group now has 95% accurate data.
Thanks to supplier data collected and interpreted by the GCI tool, in-depth in-house analyses have been carried out on the impact of 35,000 products, grouping suppliers into 170 families. This represents +80% of purchases in mass and in euros.
Prioritize and onboard your suppliers: the step-by-step approach
Identify key players
A company cannot transform its entire supply chain all at once. The most effective method is to target the most strategic partners or those that contribute most to the carbon footprint.
Several companies are demonstrating that it is possible to build a more sustainable supply chain by gradually bringing their partners on board. The key is to create a climate of trust and show that each player has a specific role to play in this transition.
Focus on cooperation
Introducing sustainability requirements can be poorly received if there is no dialogue. It is therefore essential to involve your partners in the process. The most effective methods are based on:
- sharing CSR objectives,
- transparency of carbon footprint indicators,
- regular discussions to adjust manufacturing methods and transportation.
Some organizations choose to support their partners through training workshops or by providing digital tools. This cooperation promotes trust and helps to establish more sustainable approaches.
Move forward step by step
The transition to a sustainable supply chain should be viewed as a gradual evolution. Rather than reviewing everything at once, it is better to move forward in stages:
- Analyze waste associated with logistics flows and materials used,
- Define a priority action plan (e.g., packaging,energy consumption, inventory tracking).
- Encourage the adoption of circular economy solutions,
- Consolidate results with new monitoring tools.
Each step brings concrete results that strengthen the motivation of the partners and lend credibility to the approach.
Decarbonization of purchasing, the key to corporate carbon competitiveness.
Prioritize and onboard your suppliers: the step-by-step approach
Optimize spending and enhance performance
Committing to a sustainable supply chain is not just about meeting regulatory requirements. It is also a way for companies to streamline their flows and better manage their resources. By working on material efficiency, logistics efficiency, andenergy consumption, it is possible to significantly reduce expenses.
The savings translate into:
- better inventory management,
- reducing production losses,
- waste recovery in a circular economy approach,
- optimization of deliveries and routing.
These adjustments not only improve margins: they strengthen competitiveness and contribute to sustainable performance.
Securing the chain and reducing vulnerabilities
In a global context marked by uncertainty, a robust supply chain becomes a strategic asset. Diversifying partners, integrating ethical criteria, and relying on reliable data helps limit vulnerabilities related to dependence or disruptions.
This approach also reduces exposure to geopolitical and climatic uncertainties, while preparing the organization for regulatory changes.
For consumers, this approach builds trust: they favor sustainable, traceable products that meet high quality standards.
Consolidate the image and meet market expectations
Companies that adopt responsible practices enhance their appeal. They send a positive signal to customers, investors, and business partners. They demonstrate that they are capable of combining profitability, innovation, and respect forthe environment.
Furthermore, by placing this approach within a sustainable development framework, they are equipping themselves to respond to calls for tenders where CSR criteria are becoming increasingly decisive. The implementation of such measures is therefore not a constraint but a strategic lever.
The key role of Decarbo’Solution® and Decarbo’Supply®
To make this transition a success, structured support is essential. This is precisely what Decarbo’Solution®, designed by GCI, offers. Its three-pronged approach— Decarbo’Tender®, Decarbo’Target®, and Decarbo’Supply® —provides a progressive methodology tailored to SMEs.
- Decarbo’Tender®: helps integrate carbon and CSR criteria into procurement from the moment partners are consulted.
- Decarbo’Target®: enables the setting of quantified and realistic targets for reducing carbon emissions.
- Decarbo’Supply®: specifically supports the transformation of the supply chain. It provides companies with the tools to map their flows, ensure data reliability, measure the carbon footprint of their purchasing systems, and identify levers for progress.
Thanks to Decarbo’Supply®, an SME can, for example:
- compare the impact of several logistics scenarios,
- identify the most vulnerable or most costly positions,
- involve its partners in a shared dynamic,
- demonstrate to its customers and investors its ability to take concrete action on sustainability.
For a company, committing its supply chain to a sustainable approach is no longer an option: it is a prerequisite for competitiveness. This gradual transition relies on better use of data, close cooperation with partners, and the adoption of responsible practices.
Companies that choose to adapt their production methods and logistics organization demonstrate that it is possible to combine economic performance with respect forthe environment. This evolution not only helps reduce carbon footprints, but also strengthens customer and consumer confidence.
The examples of Schmidt Groupe and ASO show that a successful transition is achievable, even for an SME, as long as the objectives are shared with partners.
Finally, tools such as GCI's Decarbo'Solution® facilitate this transition. Thanks to its three-pronged approach— Decarbo'Tender®, Decarbo'Target®, and Decarbo'Supply® —it helps companies ensure the reliability of their data and implement a clear strategy. In this way, the supply chain becomes a real driver of sustainability and competitiveness.