Can Your Customer Depend on You Tomorrow?

Can Your Customer Depend on You Tomorrow?

Large companies are not merely collecting sustainability data. They are building resilient value chains.

A supplier may offer the right product, at the right price, and deliver it reliably today. But will it still be able to do so when regulations change, resources become more expensive, technology advances or public expectations move?

That is the question increasingly occupying large companies.

When customers ask suppliers about emissions, waste, working conditions, water consumption or supply-chain practices, it can appear that they are simply collecting sustainability data. In reality, many are trying to answer a much more important commercial question:

Can we continue to depend on this supplier tomorrow?

A large company is only as resilient as the network on which it depends. If a critical supplier cannot anticipate change, the resulting disruption does not remain within that supplier’s premises. It travels through the value chain: affecting costs, production, delivery, customer satisfaction and reputation.

A practical example: the e-commerce company and its delivery provider

Consider an e-commerce company that depends on an external delivery provider.

The provider has performed reliably for years. Its prices are competitive, its drivers know the routes and its vehicles deliver thousands of parcels every day. Judged only on current performance, it appears to be an excellent supplier.

However, most of its fleet consists of older petrol or diesel vehicles. The company does not measure its emissions, monitor transport policy or have a plan for progressively replacing its vehicles.

This creates several foreseeable risks.

More cities may introduce or strengthen low-emission zones. Fuel and operating costs may increase. Customers may demand lower-carbon delivery options. Larger competitors may invest in cleaner vehicles and offer better emissions information. The delivery provider may eventually face additional charges or lose economical access to important urban areas.

London’s Ultra Low Emission Zone already requires vehicles operating across all London boroughs to meet specified emissions standards or incur a daily charge (Transport for London, n.d.). This demonstrates how an environmental impact can become a direct operational and financial issue.

The e-commerce company therefore has good reason to look beyond the provider’s performance today. It needs to know whether the supplier:

• understands how transport policy is changing;
• knows the emissions profile and age of its fleet;
• has identified which routes or customers are most exposed;
• has considered cleaner vehicles and alternative delivery models;
• has established a realistic transition plan; and
• can provide evidence that action is being taken.

The customer is not requesting this information merely to complete a spreadsheet. It is trying to determine whether an essential part of its delivery network could become more expensive, less reliable or even temporarily unavailable.

The risk moves through the value chain

Large organisations do not control every activity on which their success depends.

They rely on transport providers, manufacturers, technology companies, facilities contractors, labour providers and many other businesses. Each relationship creates dependencies. Each supplier can strengthen the customer’s resilience, or become a point of weakness.

The OECD’s due-diligence guidance encourages organisations to identify and address adverse impacts associated with their operations, supply chains and other business relationships (OECD, 2018). This is important because impacts rarely remain confined to the organisation that causes them.

A supplier’s excessive emissions can become a customer’s distribution problem. Poor labour practices can interrupt production and damage the reputation of the organisation purchasing the goods. Water dependency can threaten continuity during drought. Weak cybersecurity can expose customer information. Excessive packaging can create compliance costs and undermine a retailer’s environmental commitments.

This is why major customers increasingly need visibility beyond their immediate operations.

Waste today can become a restriction tomorrow

Emissions are only one example. Waste, plastics, hazardous substances, water pollution, unsafe products, biodiversity damage, human-rights abuses and dangerous working conditions can all attract public concern and regulatory intervention.

A packaging supplier, for example, may currently produce an inexpensive form of single-use packaging that is lawful and widely used. But if the material generates excessive waste, is difficult to recycle or contains substances of concern, regulators may impose design requirements, producer-responsibility costs, restrictions or bans. The EU’s Packaging and Packaging Waste Regulation introduces measures covering waste prevention, recyclability, recycled content and restrictions on certain packaging formats (European Commission, n.d.).

The commercial lesson is broader than packaging:

A practice does not need to be illegal today to become a serious business risk tomorrow.

Where an impact on people or the environment becomes sufficiently visible or severe, governments can act faster than a supplier’s normal investment cycle. A business that has not monitored the issue may suddenly need to replace materials, modify products, change equipment, find new sources or absorb additional costs.

That disruption can then reach every major customer that relies on it.

A resilient supplier therefore asks:

• What significant impacts are associated with our activities and products?
• Which of these impacts are receiving growing regulatory or public attention?
• What would happen if the present practice were restricted, taxed or prohibited?
• How quickly could we adapt?
• What practical action should begin now?

This is what it means to “see” ahead.

Resilient suppliers do more than react

A resilient supplier cannot predict every future event. It can, however, establish the capability to recognise change early and respond intelligently.

Such a supplier:

• understands its most significant impacts on the economy, environment and people;
• monitors regulatory, technological and market developments;
• knows which resources, locations and business relationships it depends upon;
• considers how impacts could become operational or commercial risks;
• assigns simple internal responsibilities;
• establishes actions, targets and indicators where appropriate; and
• maintains credible information that can be shared with customers.

The practical distinction is important.

One supplier waits until a major customer sends a questionnaire and then searches hurriedly for answers. Another already understands its impacts, knows where the evidence is held and can explain what it is doing.

Which one appears more dependable?

Sustainability reporting as a management capability

This is where sustainability reporting becomes commercially useful.

The GRI Standards help organisations understand and report their impacts on the economy, environment and people, including human rights. GRI also explains that reporting can generate information that helps organisations identify and reduce risks, recognise opportunities and take action (Global Reporting Initiative, n.d.).

The real value, therefore, is not simply the finished report. It is the organisational capability developed through the reporting process:

• asking the right questions;
• identifying significant impacts;
• examining the value chain;
• assigning responsibility;
• collecting reliable information;
• deciding what action is necessary; and
• monitoring whether that action is working.

For a smaller business, this does not need to begin as an enormous project. The first step is to understand what the relevant questions are and establish a manageable structure for answering them.

The supplier customers will want to retain

Price, quality and delivery will always matter. But they describe whether a supplier can perform under present conditions.

Resilience addresses a different question: whether it can continue performing as conditions change.

Large companies are therefore not necessarily looking for suppliers that already have perfect sustainability performance. They are looking for suppliers that understand their impacts, recognise emerging pressures and can demonstrate a credible capacity to adapt.

The strongest message a supplier can send is not:

“Nothing will affect us.”

It is:

“We understand where change may affect us, and we are already preparing.”

That is more than sustainability disclosure. It is evidence of foresight, competence and future dependability.

And that is why large companies are not simply collecting data.

They are building resilient value chains.

 

Simon Pitsillides
Simon Pitsillides is a board adviser specialising in sustainability governance, corporate reporting, strategy and stakeholder value creation. He supports boards and senior executives in strengthening governance, enhancing decision-making and integrating sustainability into long-term business strategy.
Simon is a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Marketing (FCIM), a Fellow of the Institute of Sustainability and Environmental Professionals (FISEP), a Chartered Marketer, and holds an MBA in Marketing. He is also a GRI and ISEP Certified Trainer.
As Founder of FBRH Consultants and publisher of SustainCase, Simon combines strategic, commercial and governance expertise with extensive international experience in sustainability reporting, assurance readiness and value creation. He has worked with multinational organisations, financial institutions and public sector bodies across Europe, the Middle East and beyond.
Simon is recognised for helping boards move beyond compliance by using decision-useful sustainability information to strengthen strategy, manage risk, build stakeholder confidence and create long-term value for business, stakeholders and the planet. 

https://www.linkedin.com/in/simon-pitsillides

 

References

European Commission (n.d.) Packaging waste. Available at: https://environment.ec.europa.eu/topics/waste-and-recycling/packaging-waste_en (Accessed: 21 September 2026).

Global Reporting Initiative (n.d.) How to use the GRI Standards. Available at: https://www.globalreporting.org/how-to-use-the-gri-standards/ (Accessed: 21 September 2026).

OECD (2018) OECD Due Diligence Guidance for Responsible Business Conduct. Paris: OECD Publishing. Available at: https://www.oecd.org/en/publications/oecd-due-diligence-guidance-for-responsible-business-conduct_15f5f4b3-en.html (Accessed: 21 September 2026).

Transport for London (n.d.) Ultra Low Emission Zone. Available at: https://tfl.gov.uk/modes/driving/ultra-low-emission-zone (Accessed: 21 September 2026).