Demands are increasing on businesses to do their part to
respond to the threat of climate change based on their influential
position within the global community. The SupplyChainAcademy is
ahead of the pack and contributes to the fight against climate
change in three important ways.
1. Reducing Client Emissions More than 27,500 people from 140 countries use the Supply Chain Academy to build skills and improve supply chain
performance. As the Supply Chain Academy often replaces traditional classroom training, this not only leads to
increased flexibility and better knowledge retention, but also eliminates the need for users to travel. This not
only leads to cost-savings for the client, but at the same time significantly reduces the carbon emissions from
people taking training.
Assume that the Supply Chain Academy replaces one workshop per student per year by online learning. And that the
average workshop group size is 15 students, while the instructor flies 2,000 miles to provide the training. Then
the annual savings in greenhouse emissions through the Supply Chain Academy are more than 1,300 tons of CO2. The
same reduction as would be realized by a forest of 375 acres!
2. Educating Users on Sustainability The case for a sustainable supply chain management (SSCM)
discipline has never been stronger. In recent years, academics and industry leaders have reached a broad consensus
that social and environmental issues are inseparable from economic success. It is now generally accepted that a close
connection between financial goals and social and environmental goals is a prerequisite for success over the long term.
To educate its users to the purpose of sustainability and motivate them to apply its principles, the Supply Chain
Academy decided to make a significant investment in developing a sustainability curriculum in 2008 / 2009. The courses
will introduce sustainability both as a business concept and as a supply chain strategy. Some courses will cover
issues that everyone is talking about—packaging, logistics, carbon management—and others look at deeper issues, like
stewardship and partnering. The courses will use best practices and case examples to explain sustainability concepts
and principles to employees at any level in the organization.
3. Climate Neutral A person or organization that fully compensates for its
greenhouse emissions is considered to be climate neutral. The Supply Chain Academy achieves climate neutrality by first
reducing its emissions of greenhouse gases as much as possible, for example by working in a virtual, paperless office,
working on laptops as opposed to desktop computers, traveling only when necessary and converting to renewable energy
sources.
As in any organization operating globally, travel is sometimes required and ours is not immune to this. Subsequently,
the remaining emissions are completely compensated through two different organizations, The Conservation Fund
(United States) and the Climate Neutral Group (the Netherlands). Emissions are offset as follows:
All flights from and within the US
All intercontinental flights departing from the US
All US ground transportation
Server power usage
Energy usage by US-based SCA employees
All European flights
All intercontinental flights departing from Europe
European ground transportation
Energy usage by European SCA employees
Inspired in doing the same for your organization? Simply go to either The Conservation Fund
or the Climate Neutral Group website and
you will find the information you need to make your own calculations.
The Accenture Sustainability practice
works with clients across industries and geographies to integrate sustainability
approaches into their business strategies, operating models and value chains.
SCA is climate neutral.
