What 180 suppliers say buyers should change

Suppliers were asked what they most want customers to know about being asked to decarbonise. Two of the three complaints are procurement decisions. The third, the paperwork, is a data problem buyers can reduce.

The survey

The Scope 3 Peer Group, a collective of 4,000 professionals working to reduce supply chain emissions, put one question to companies that sell to its members: what do you most want customers to know about the reality of being a supplier asked to decarbonise? More than 180 answered, anonymously. Trellis reported the results on 1 October.

Further detail will be shared at the Value Exchange Summit, a virtual meeting the group is holding from 20 to 22 October.

Three complaints

The top theme, in 43% of responses, was price. Low-carbon options often cost more, yet contracts are still awarded on unit price. Founder Oliver Hurrey summed up what suppliers told him: the sustainability team asks them to decarbonise, they do the work, and then the commercial procurement team asks what decarbonisation is.

Just under a quarter raised specifications. Customers often dictate the material and even the supplier, which fixes much of the footprint before the supplier can touch it.

The third was reporting. Suppliers said they are overwhelmed with questionnaires, rarely get a response, and face different methodologies, platforms, formats and timelines from every customer.

What suppliers asked for

The suggestions were practical: make carbon count in the price, align the ask using common methods and platforms, co-own the specifications, commit for longer, explain how the data is used, and scale requests to the size of the supplier. On the reporting point they named disclose-once tools and public data.

Price and specifications sit with procurement. The paperwork can be cut by data. If a supplier has already published its emissions, the buyer can start from that and ask only for what is missing.

Starting from what is already published

Every customer's questionnaire competes for the same supplier hours, and the replies mostly go unanswered. Any model that has to ask every supplier before it knows anything adds to that queue, whoever runs it.

DitchCarbon provides verified emissions data for over 2 million organisations, built on primary emissions data wherever it exists, so a buyer can start from what suppliers have already published, and each request that does go out arrives prepopulated for the supplier to confirm and correct.