A questionnaire opens a conversation. What follows should give suppliers clear expectations, useful feedback, the ability to respond and a commercial reason to act.
Reach matters, but so does what happens next. Are suppliers getting a better understanding of their emissions, setting credible targets and making changes? A programme needs to answer those questions as well as count participants.
I built and led CDP’s Supply Chain programme and developed its Supplier Engagement Rating with colleagues. That experience shapes my work at EcoVadis: helping buyers use what they know about suppliers to support climate action.
Choose a purpose for each supplier relationship
Some suppliers need an accessible first step. Others can discuss a specific investment, product change or joint reduction opportunity. A single request across the entire supply base can hide those differences. Start with the decision the buyer and supplier can make together.
Separate participation, commitment and delivery
A response tells you that a supplier has engaged. A target records an ambition. An action plan sets out work. Evidence of implementation tells you that something happened. Report those stages separately, alongside the reach of the programme, so that a growing response rate does not become a substitute for progress.
Make the relationship useful after assessment
Use the supplier conversation to identify the next obstacle: knowledge, internal ownership, demand certainty, finance or usable information. Agree what each side will do and return to that agreement at the next commercial review. The programme becomes more valuable when suppliers can see how participation changes the relationship.
Sustainability LIVE · A short conversation
Playing loads YouTube. You can also open the original recording above.
Questions for leadership
- Are we reaching the suppliers that matter most?
- What changes after a supplier receives its assessment or score?
- Do our purchasing decisions reward credible progress?
Take the next step
Bring it to your
next business review
The Scope 3 guide brings supplier priorities, engagement, finance, data and resilience together, with a decision worksheet for your next review.
Read the Scope 3 decarbonisation guideThe evidence behind the discussion
This perspective draws on my programme leadership, partnerships and published work. The sources above provide the evidence and context.