University of Vaasa - Vaasan yliopisto

SUPPLY CHAIN CORPORATE RESPONSIBILITY
REPORTING: A EXTENT OF INDUSTRY REPORTING
OF BIODIVERSITY ISSUES
Derek R Whatling * , Peter Hedges * , Ross Brown ** , Philip Fermor ***
* Sustainable Environment Research Group - School of Engineering and Applied
Science, Aston University, Birmingham; ** AstraZeneca (UK) - Safety, Health
and Environment, Brixham Environmental Laboratory, Devon; *** Middlemarch
Environmental Ltd, Birmingham Road, Coventry
Abstract
652
Industrial development has had a major role in creating the situation where bio-diverse materials
and services essential for sustaining business are under threat. A major contributory factor to
biodiversity decline comes from the cumulative impacts of extended supply chain business
operations. There is an increasing call for companies to manage and report on the potential risks
and opportunities that may affect sustainable production, corporate responsibility and reputation.
However, within Corporate Responsibility (CR) reporting impacts on biodiversity due to supply
chain operations have not traditionally been given equal weighting with other environmental
issues. The situation is seeing little change despite widely publicised assessments of deteriorating
natural resources aimed at increasing business and public awareness.
This paper investigates the extent of CR reporting in managing and publicising company
biodiversity supply chain issues by reviewing a cross-sector sample of publicly available CR
reports. The report contents were examined for suggestions of industrial sectorial trends in the
level of biodiversity consideration. The reporting of environmental management system use
within company supply chain management is assessed in the samples and is considered as a
mechanism for responsible supplier partnership working.
Keywords: Corporate Responsibility; Biodiversity; Supply Chain; Environmental Management
Systems.
Lead Author: Derek R Whatling
Introduction
The 2005 Millennium Ecosystem Assessment (MA) found that industrial
development has had a major impact on the biodiversity that underpins natural
ecosystems and this is threatening the provision of services and materials essential to
business (MA, 2005). The increasing scarcity of natural resources, often affecting the
availability of material goods in supply chains, is forcing a stronger association
between environmental issues and overall financial bottom lines (MA, 2005; MA,
2007).