Case study: How HP promotes sustainability among its suppliers
HP is a global technology leader, seeking to create technology that makes life better for everyone, everywhere – every person, every organisation, and every community around the globe. HP engages with its suppliers in multiple ways to understand their sustainability performance, identify and address issues, and drive ongoing progress. Tweet This!
This case study is based on the 2020 Sustainable Impact Report by HP, prepared in accordance with the GRI Standards, 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.
To minimise the potential for supply chain-related risks, HP works with its suppliers and other stakeholders in a wide range of ways to promote responsibility, so as to create an ethical, sustainable, and resilient supply chain. In order to promote sustainability among its suppliers HP took action to:
- use a supplier Self-Assessment Questionnaire
- conduct supplier audits
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With this case study you will see:
- Which are the most important impacts (material issues) HP has identified;
- How HP proceeded with stakeholder engagement, and
- What actions were taken by HP to promote sustainability among its suppliers
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What are the material issues the company has identified?
In its 2020 Sustainable Impact Report HP identified a range of material issues, such as energy use and GHS emissions, human rights, product and operational health and safety, diversity and inclusion. Among these, promoting sustainability among its suppliers stands out as a key material issue for HP.
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 HP engages with:
| Stakeholder Group |
| Employees |
| Investors |
| Suppliers |
| Customers |
| Peer companies |
| Public policy makers |
| Industry bodies |
| Nongovernmental organisations (NGOs) |
| Sector experts |
How stakeholder engagement was made to identify material issues
To identify and prioritise material topics HP engaged with its stakeholders through interviews with a wide range of internal and external stakeholders and an employee survey with more than 1,400 responses.
What actions were taken by HP to promote sustainability among its suppliers?
In its 2020 Sustainable Impact Report HP reports that it took the following actions for promoting sustainability among its suppliers:
- Using a supplier Self-Assessment Questionnaire
- HP’s supplier Self-Assessment Questionnaire (SAQ) includes detailed questions around social and environmental management and practices. As well as assisting HP to evaluate risk, identify areas for improvement, and determine a firm’s inclusion in its audit programme, self-assessment helps suppliers become more familiar with HP’s expectations of conformance to its Supplier Code of Conduct. During 2020, 167 production suppliers and 13 nonproduction suppliers completed SAQs.
- Conducting supplier audits
- HP’s supplier audit process is an essential component of its risk assessment framework and a key mechanism for identifying opportunities for sustained improvement with its suppliers. Supplier audits measure conformance with all provisions of the HP Supplier Code of Conduct in the areas of labour, health and safety, environmental, ethics, and management systems. HP also works with its final assembly suppliers to confirm they are conducting risk assessments of companies in their own supply chains that represent approximately 80% of their spend and auditing 25% of sites determined to be high risk, based on the RBA Code of Conduct. In 2020, HP completed 137 audits of production suppliers, product reuse and recycling vendors, and nonproduction suppliers, as well as three other assessments of production suppliers. HP also conducts targeted assessments to supplement its comprehensive audits, focusing on specific risk areas, including vulnerable workers (such as student, dispatch, and foreign migrant workers) and health and safety (including fire safety and emergency preparedness).
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 414-1 New suppliers that were screened using social criteria
Disclosure 308-1 New suppliers that were screened using environmental criteria 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
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References:
This case study is based on published information by HP, 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 following link:
https://www8.hp.com/h20195/v2/GetPDF.aspx/c07539064.pdf
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