Responsible Sourcing Stakeholder Forum - BSI - Standards · PDF fileAmanda Kiely, Lead...

Copyright © 2013 BSI. All rights reserved.

Responsible Sourcing Stakeholder Forum

Copyright © 2013 BSI. All rights reserved.

Amanda Kiely, Lead Programme Manager, BSI Ben Vivian, Director, Vivian Partnership Ltd

Copyright © 2013 BSI. All rights reserved. 3

About BSI

• BSI Standards helps organizations make excellence a habit by developing standards

• Standards can help organisations perform better, reduce risk and grow sustainably


What are standards?

• Voluntary

• Good practice

• Developed by users

• Subject to consultation

• Established by consensus

• Provide requirements or guidance

• Approved by a recognised body


Types of standards

• Vocabularies: a set of terms and definitions

• Specifications: provide requirements about ‘things’

• Products

• Management systems

• Guides: provide general recommendations

• Codes of practice: offer recommendations of

what an organisation or individual should do in

a given process


Sustainability standards


Responsible sourcing

Published

• Responsible sourcing of construction products (BS 8902)

• Guide on procuring sustainably (BS 8903)

• Specification of good practice for fishing vessels (PAS 72)

• Legal origins of timber and timber products (PAS 2021)

• Guidance on social responsibility (BS ISO 26000)

In development

• Sustainability and traceability of cocoa

• Chain of custody standard for timber


Should BSI be doing more?

• Internal research – BSI

• Independent research – the Vivian Partnership

• Stakeholder Forum (today)

• YOUR views

• What do you need to deliver your responsible sourcing objectives?

• Can BSI help?

• Summary report – BSI

• Call to action? – Collaboration?


What is Responsible Sourcing?

• Definition of Responsible Sourcing

• “voluntary commitment to social and environmental responsibilities when managing relationships with suppliers” (International Chamber of Commerce)

• Ethical sourcing

• Sustainable sourcing

• All are evolving and definitions may vary depending on application.


Independent research

• Analyse BSI Knowledge Centre Research – categorising research by

• Sector application

• Geographical base

• Type of Organisation / Governance

• Initial publication date

• Type of standardisation

• Resource management

• Chain of custody

• Product liability

• Code of conduct

• Certification and accreditation

• ISO 17021

• Guide 65 / ISO 17065

• Guide 59

• Other e.g. ISEAL

• Analyse publicly available information

• Social media

• Websites

• YouGov Opinion Surveys and Reports


Independent research

• Limitations to the research

• Becoming quickly dated

• Based on publicly and freely available secondary information and data

• English language only


Literature review

Government Policies

• Sustainable Procurement Policy Statement; Ethical Procurement Policy Statement; Timber Procurement Policy

Private sector initiatives

• Companies with sensitive or extended supply chains often set out their own codes of conduct for suppliers and undertake their own audits to provide assurance

Public perception

• Potential for confusion (though limited evidence this is the case)

• Those that support responsible sourcing do not restrict their preferences to a single scheme

• There is a high level of trust for existing schemes eg FSC, MSC


Responsible sourcing approaches

• Resource management

• Chain of custody

• Product labelling

• Code of conduct


Standardization models

• Development has tended to be reactive

• Collaboration and transparency are vital to engagement and promote credible standards

• Usually responsible sourcing standards are free of charge

• Impact and change are at the core of the standard

• Individual company schemes do not often engage with civil society groups which often limits perceived credibility

• Formal standards bodies have taken limited action in this area to date

• International groupings eg ISEAL Alliance, PEFC have been very influential


Social media and responsible sourcing

• Wide range of levels of activity by responsible sourcing standards owners and advocates

• Focus on Twitter and Facebook

• Social media landscape is evolving and its reach must not be underestimated


Social media and responsible sourcing

• Leading responsible sourcing organisations use both multiple platforms and show signs of increasing activity

• Facebook is highly volatile at the moment

• Social Media has opened channels to expose abuse in supply chains


Public opinion and responsible sourcing

• Limited general opinion survey results in the public domain.

• YouGov has a small number of relevant surveys

• There are good levels of trust in the organisations behind responsible sourcing standards.


Motivation for adopting standards

Source: Towards Sustainability: Roles and Limitations of Certification (June 2012).


Emerging trends

1. Credibility through collaboration and consolidation

2. Creating an engaging and lively conversation

3. Concern over excessive information on product packaging

4. Moving from responsible sourcing to sustainable sourcing and circular economy thinking

5. Escalation of accuracy of processed food sourcing and labelling

Note: There does not appear to be any particular pattern in terms of moving from one type of standard to another


Gaps and opportunities

• An incremental move towards a phase of consolidation

• Oil and gas and other fossil fuel sectors are starting to recognize the value of responsible sourcing

• Renewable energy production is an area of economic activity that appears to be under represented in responsible sourcing standards

• There is a growing call for standardised product labelling for GMO

• The range of standards for textiles and clothing tend to be material specific or limited in geographical scope


Options

To be explored via the break-out sessions:

1. Business as usual

2. Collaborate and develop a responsible sourcing standardization framework

3. Collaborate and develop sector specific responsible sourcing standards

• Circular economy

• Responsible renewables

4. Other


Questions

Responsible Sourcing Stakeholder Forum - BSI - Standards · PDF fileAmanda Kiely, Lead...

Documents

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