Case study: How Chemours promotes sustainability among its suppliers
The Chemours Company is a leading global provider of performance chemicals that are key inputs in end products and processes in a variety of industries. Chemours seeks to work with its suppliers – more than 12,000 suppliers across over 70 countries – to have them join it as it advances its responsibility commitment along its value chain. Tweet This!
This case study is based on the 2019 Corporate Responsibility Commitment Index Report by Chemours published on the Global Reporting Initiative Sustainability Disclosure Database that can be found at this link. Through all case studies we aim to demonstrate what CSR/ ESG/ sustainability reporting done responsibly means. Essentially, it means: a) identifying a company’s most important impacts on the environment, economy and society, and b) measuring, managing and changing.
Abstract
Monitoring the environmental and social performance of suppliers and integrating sustainability priorities into sourcing standards and selection criteria, is a top priority for Chemours. In order to promote sustainability among its suppliers Chemours took action to:
- measure suppliers’ sustainability performance
- assess suppliers’ environmental performance
- assess suppliers’ social performance
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With this case study you will see:
- Which are the most important impacts (material issues) Chemours has identified;
- How Chemours proceeded with stakeholder engagement, and
- What actions were taken by Chemours to promote sustainability among its suppliers
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What are the material issues the company has identified?
In its 2019 Corporate Responsibility Commitment Index Report Chemours identified a range of material issues, such as product sustainability, waste management, climate change mitigation and adaptation, water stewardship. Among these, promoting sustainability among its suppliers stands out as a key material issue for Chemours.
Stakeholder engagement in accordance with the GRI Standards
The Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) defines the Principle of Stakeholder Inclusiveness when identifying material issues (or a company’s most important impacts) as follows:
Stakeholders must be consulted in the process of identifying a company’s most important impacts and their reasonable expectations and interests must be taken into account. This is an important cornerstone for CSR / sustainability reporting done responsibly.
Key stakeholder groups Chemours engages with:
| Stakeholder Group | Method of engagement |
| Communities
| · Meetings · Media · Social media · Events · Plant tours · Community support and volunteerism · State and local civic associations |
| Customers
| · Events · Meetings · Emails · Calls · Surveys · Trainings · Technical support · Media · Social media |
Employees
| · Town hall meetings · Emails · Global employee engagement surveys · Employee resource groups · Recognitions · CRC champions · Daily intranet and Chemours News Network · Social media |
| Government
| · Meetings · Emails · Calls · Plant tours and site visits · Reporting activities to select state and federal agencies · Industry and trade association involvement |
| Investment professionals
| · Calls · Emails · Meetings · Events · Media · Security and Exchange Commission (SEC) filings · Surveys · Chemours investor centre |
| NGOs, academia, and think tanks
| · Visits · Events · Meetings · Research projects · Internships · Emails · Calls · Social media |
| Shareholders
| · Meetings · Media · Social media |
| Suppliers
| · Events · Meetings · Calls · Emails · Surveys · Supplier relationship management |
How stakeholder engagement was made to identify material issues
To identify and prioritise material topics Chemours sent surveys to global employees from its business segments and functions and to external stakeholders, followed by detailed interviews internally with global employees and externally with a broad cross-section of stakeholders.
What actions were taken by Chemours to promote sustainability among its suppliers?
In its 2019 Corporate Responsibility Commitment Index Report Chemours reports that it took the following actions for promoting sustainability among its suppliers:
- Measuring suppliers’ sustainability performance
- Chemours measures supplier sustainability performance through its supplier corporate responsibility assessment (SCRA), conducted in partnership with EcoVadis, a leading provider of business sustainability ratings for global supply chains. Chemours’ SCRA evaluates suppliers across four ESG (environmental, social, and governance) categories: social performance, ethical performance, environmental performance, and sustainable supply chain. At the end of the assessment, each supplier receives a scorecard with recommended opportunities to improve their ESG performance. The EcoVadis scorecard provides a detailed rating of the most effective improvement areas, and Chemours expects suppliers to use this information to prioritise the opportunities that bring the greatest benefit to their performance. Chemours’ network of procurement champions helps engage new suppliers in the SCRA and shares supplier sustainability performance with its businesses. By the end of 2019, Chemours grew the supplier participation in the SCRA to cover 38.6% of its supply chain by spend.
- Assessing suppliers’ environmental performance
- Chemours relies on the independent and globally recognised methodology administered by EcoVadis to assess supplier environmental performance as part of its SCRA. Participating suppliers are assessed against the following categories: Energy Consumption and GHGs; Water; Biodiversity; Local and Accidental Pollution; Materials, Chemicals, and Waste; Product Use; Product End-of-Life; Customer Health and Safety; and Environmental Services and Advocacy. The assessment provides an environmental score and recommended action plan for individual suppliers to improve their performance. The average environmental score for assessed suppliers in 2019 was 52% (on a scale of 0 to 100), higher than the EcoVadis benchmark of 43% (based upon all the participating companies in their network).
- Assessing suppliers’ social performance
- Chemours relies on the independent and globally recognised methodology administered by EcoVadis to assess suppliers’ Labour and Fair Business (i.e., social) performance as part of its SCRA. Participating suppliers are assessed against the following categories: Employee Health and Safety; Working Conditions; Social Dialogue; Career Management and Training; Child Labour, Forced Labour, and Human Trafficking; Diversity, Discrimination, and Harassment; and External Stakeholder Human Rights. The assessment provides a Labour and Fair Business score and recommended action plan for individual suppliers to improve their performance. The average labour practices score for assessed suppliers is 54.0% (on a scale of 0 to 100), higher than the EcoVadis benchmark of 44.8% (based upon all the participating companies in their network).
Which GRI Standards and corresponding Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) have been addressed?
The GRI Standards addressed in this case are:
1) Disclosure 308-1 New suppliers that were screened using environmental criteria
2) Disclosure 308-2 Negative environmental impacts in the supply chain and actions taken
3) Disclosure 414-1 New suppliers that were screened using social criteria
4) Disclosure 414-2 Negative social impacts in the supply chain and actions taken
Disclosure 308-1 New suppliers that were screened using environmental criteria does not correspond to any SDG.
Disclosure 308-2 Negative environmental impacts in the supply chain and actions taken does not correspond to any SDG.
Disclosure 414-1 New suppliers that were screened using social criteria corresponds to:
- Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 5: Gender Equality
- Targets: 5.2
- Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 8: Decent Work and Economic Growth
- Targets: 8.8
- Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 16: Peace, Justice and Strong Institutions
- Targets: 16.1
Disclosure 414-2 Negative social impacts in the supply chain and actions taken corresponds to:
- Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 5: Gender Equality
- Targets: 5.2
- Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 8: Decent Work and Economic Growth
- Targets: 8.8
- Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 16: Peace, Justice and Strong Institutions
- Targets: 16.1
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References:
1) This case study is based on published information by Chemours, located at the link below. For the sake of readability, we did not use brackets or ellipses. However, we made sure that the extra or missing words did not change the report’s meaning. If you would like to quote these written sources from the original, please revert to the original on the Global Reporting Initiative’s Sustainability Disclosure Database at the link:
http://database.globalreporting.org/
2) https://www.globalreporting.org/standards/gri-standards-download-center/
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