CASE STUDY
Benchmarking voluntary sustainability standards for responsible sourcing, strategic alignment and sustainability excellence
TDi Sustainability supported a leading consumer electronics manufacturer and a global e-commerce and cloud computing company to conduct equivalency benchmark of their responsible sourcing requirements and sustainability standards.
The project aimed to evaluate how these internal standards align with key external frameworks and initiatives across a diverse range of commodities and requirements – including minerals and metals, agriculture, and animal welfare – within the broader context of responsible sourcing, ethical supply chains, and environmental governance.
The benchmark had several key objectives:
- Tool development: Design practical tools to support sourcing teams in evaluating third-party certification and assurance programs for alignment with internal sourcing requirements.
- Transparency and stakeholder assurance: Clearly demonstrate to customers, investors, and other stakeholders the extent to which the companies’ responsible sourcing standards align with globally recognised sustainability initiatives, while providing insights into how third-party certifications can be effectively leveraged to mitigate supply chain risks.
- Consistency and strategic alignment: Minimise the risk of inconsistent interpretations of equivalency by fostering a shared understanding between the companies and their suppliers, refining sourcing requirements, and reinforcing the companies’ broader sustainability strategies.
- Enable cross-recognition and audit efficiency: Facilitate cross-recognition of supplier validations under alternative standards – where assurance mechanisms are deemed equally credible and robust – reducing duplicative assessments and increasing audit efficiency.
- Review of governance structures: Evaluation of governance structures and related domains – including stakeholder participation, grievance mechanism, assurance systems, and transparency and accountability frameworks.