SUSTAINABLE SUPPLIERS
Why are we doing this:
Many cultural sector organisations are beginning to consider how to gather environmental sustainability information from their suppliers to support their analysis of their emissions. Most are using bespoke surveys which is time consuming and resource intensive for both parties involved. We would like to encourage a cultural sector wide approach so that supplier data is quickly and easily available to the organisations that need it.
We feel that cultural organisations asking their suppliers about sustainability is one of the most effective ways of encouraging action in our supply chains. Anyone in an organisation can request information from their suppliers, you do not need to be a sustainability specialist. In fact, we encourage anyone who purchases items to send this to their most frequently used suppliers. We hope that receiving these questions from several different clients will show suppliers that, if they haven’t already, they need to take action in this area to safeguard future business. Everyone is on their own environmental sustainability journey and our aim is to help them progress. The more organisations that ask questions, the more action will be taken and the bigger the ripple effect through the supply chains of the cultural sector. It is also important to note that banks and lenders will be beginning to request this information from all businesses including SMEs shortly, so making progress in this area now will save time in the future.
How it works:
A small group of organisations and bodies has been brought together by Royal Ballet and Opera and supported by Theatre Green Book, to create a supplier questionnaire that can be used by anyone to gather sustainability information about any of their suppliers. The questions are wide reaching and vary in complexity, from questions about staff training and energy tariffs to confirmation of whether Life Cycle Analysis or Product Declaration Assessments are available. The company can also indicate whether they have calculated a carbon footprint and how to obtain this information. This range of questions allows organisations to assess the maturity of sustainability
within their suppliers and supports scope 3 calculations. Bearing in mind many cultural sector organisations use small local suppliers that may be just starting to consider environmental sustainability, the questions also include capacity for stories and qualitative responses so all experiences can be shared.
Once the supplier has submitted the form it feeds into a spreadsheet so anyone who has the link can see all responses. The supplier will not need to answer these questions again until the following year; any other organisation that approaches them for sustainability information can be directed to these pre-prepared responses. Alternatively the supplier could make this information available on their website or send it directly in response to each request. This has been created as a free and simple system – it is a Google form feeding into a Google spreadsheet – but it will only succeed if many suppliers use it, and if the cultural sector knows that it is available for them to use.
Please see the form and spreadsheet for full details, FAQs and Privacy Policy