Multinationals Can Guide Suppliers Toward Sustainability by Setting Example, Execs Say

摘要

Sometimes the most effective way for a multinational company to persuade its suppliers to embed its environmental and sustainable goals into their own operations is leading by example, a senior procurement executive for a global consumer business said. Take the case of Unilever NV, one of the world's largest buyers of palm oil for use in products such as margarine, ice cream, soap and shampoo. To help it reach its stated ambition of acquiring all of its palm oil sus-tainably from certified, traceable sources by 2020, the Anglo-Dutch multinational will next year, for the first time, start producing its own palm oil, said Dirk Jan de With, the company's vice president for procurement ingredients and sustainability.