Why Companies Should Challenge their Suppliers to Operate Sustainably

Companies across industries, including the construction business, are making incredible strides in reducing greenhouse gas emissions, creating more sustainable products and infrastructure solutions, and building more energy-efficient buildings and structures across the globe.

But as construction and infrastructure continue to grow, our industry must find more ways to become more environmentally friendly if we truly want to succeed in creating a zero-emissions industry. According to the World Economic Forum, the built environment already accounts for 39% of annual worldwide carbon emissions.

One important way to do that is for leading companies to work closely with their partners and suppliers to help them tackle environmental sustainability goals. Implementing supplier Codes of Conduct can accomplish that, and I believe it’s time our industry truly began to embrace those codes.

What, exactly, does that mean? At Advanced Drainage Systems (ADS), for example, we considered our commitment to protecting the world’s most precious resource—water. We realized that being conscious consumers was an important part of our environmental commitment.

ADS is a leading provider of innovative water management solutions in the stormwater and on-site septic wastewater industries, protecting communities with products used in various markets and applications, including commercial, residential, and infrastructure. With that influence as a leader in our market, ADS can choose to spend our purchasing dollars with companies that share our values and agree to operate by the standards we set for ourselves.

Last year, we officially launched our first-ever Supplier Code of Conduct. The code lays out ADS’s expectations for its suppliers, ranging from environmental protections to safeguards for employees’ safety and human rights. We’ve been working on this project for quite some time, and I’m happy to see it finally come into being.

To put it more bluntly, our supply chain matters. I believe what we’ve done can help others in the construction industry tackle this challenge with their supplier partners.

It can start this way: our Supplier Code mirrors our own ADS Code of Conduct. It limits and requires more detailed reporting of a supplier’s greenhouse gas emissions, which are the primary drivers of climate change. It requires the preservation and protection of water by reducing water consumption, minimizing wastewater and water pollution, and sustainably managing stormwater. It also compels suppliers to minimize single-use plastics and identify opportunities for recycling and reuse.

It includes protections for people, including fair compensation, discrimination—and harassment-free workplaces, and zero tolerance for child labor. Other requirements revolve around ethical business practices and transparency.

To be clear, we did not create this code to become an overbearing purchaser. We think many of our suppliers already meet or exceed our requirements. And we believe that our suppliers should already be operating in the way we’ve outlined.

We want to do business with companies that uphold the same principles we do. It would be difficult to call ourselves protectors of the environment if our products and facilities were made from materials that were unethically sourced or produced.

For those suppliers who are not quite there yet, it presents an opportunity for companies like ours to help them grow and join us on our path to improving the world, one pipe at a time and one supplier at a time. It’s the next step in our growth as responsible corporate citizens. And because it’s also simply the right thing to do, I’d encourage other leaders in our industry to work closely with their suppliers to bring climate initiatives to the fore.