Supply chain professionals have an ethical responsibility to initiate more sustainable practices within the industry, according to Kevin O'Marah, chief content officer of SCM World, a global community of supply chain professionals.
He believes the supply chain industry is on the frontline when it comes to helping — or hurting — the environment.
"It is us who are cutting down the forests, cooking the chemicals and dispatching the fleets of trucks that emit much of the carbon causing global warming," writes Mr. O'Marah in an opinion piece for Supply Chain Management Review.
In the article, he cites SCM World's Future of Supply Chain survey for 2015, in which 54 percent of respondents acknowledged their supply chains played a "substantial role in ensuring long-term environmental sustainability."
Mr. Marah acknowledges several companies in the industry setting clear and accountable sustainability goals — like Unilever, which promised to completely eliminate non-hazardous waste sent to landfills — and encourages other supply chains to follow.
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