Map Your Value Chain

Identify your direct value chain partners

Begin by identifying your most relevant procurement categories with high potential for sustainability improvement. Relevance can be determined by factors like procurement spend or revenue share, as well as strategic priorities and sustainability interests.³ Next, identify all of your direct (Tier 1) suppliers for these top categories and create a visual overview by adding them to a map or diagram.⁴ This should include details such as site locations and supplier activities. You can also add data on sustainability-related impacts and risks, prioritising any suppliers in known high-risk regions or industries. While software can help,⁵ combining software and other tools with stakeholder engagement often provides a more comprehensive picture.

EXAMPLE: Campbell Soup Company commodity mapping

Campbell’s first mapping effort⁶ focused on identifying hotspots in their supply chain for sustainability risk related to 14 priority ingredients sourced from 5 countries. Campbell’s expanded their second mapping effort to 30 ingredients and added detail by including human rights, governance, and water metrics.

EXAMPLE: Patagonia's transparent supply chain mapping

Patagonia engaged in an effort to map its supply chain and provide transparency on product origins. Leveraging technology, data entry, and intensive collaboration, they have created an interactive online platform⁷ that locates factories globally, providing customers with better insights into the manufacturing journey of each product.⁸

EXAMPLE: Cargill maps cocoa suppliers using satellite technology

Cargill has leveraged GPS and satellite technology in partnership with organisations like the World Resources Institute, to develop an interactive map disclosing the locations of direct sourcing partners across Côte d’Ivoire, Ghana, and Cameroon. By increasing transparency the initiative aims to tackle issues like deforestation and child labour in the cocoa industry.⁹

Map lower-tier suppliers, distributors, and customers

Expanding your mapping efforts to lower-tier suppliers involves tracing materials back to their origins, which is especially important for high-spend procurements or categories. This exercise might require suppliers to disclose details about their facilities, suppliers, and intermediaries. The further down the supply chain, the more challenging it can be to get disclosures. This is where collaboration becomes important.¹⁰ For instance, you can involve industry groups, NGOs, or government agencies to help gather additional data. Be aware that suppliers may hesitate to disclose information for fear of repercussions. Building supplier’s trust, offering incentives, and assuring anonymity can help. You may also consider third-party mapping services or traceability tools. Once you have gathered this data, layer on additional sustainability information, such as local labour standards or environmental factors. Remember that this process will take time and might reveal previously unknown sub-suppliers. You must also plan how best to capture and store this data for future use.

EXAMPLE: VF Corporation supply chain mapping

VF Corporation has implemented extensive supply chain mapping,¹¹ tracing raw materials to finished products across 40 countries and thousands of suppliers. The company achieved its goal of publishing 100 product traceability maps by December 2021 and aims to trace five critical materials through 100% of its supply chain by 2027.

EXAMPLE: GIS for real-time risk and sustainability management

General Motors (GM) uses Geographic Information System (GIS) technology to map and monitor its global supply chain in real-time.¹² The system accelerates crisis responses and helps GM meet sustainability goals by identifying suppliers in politically or environmentally risky areas. This dual functionality ensures operational continuity while supporting GM's ESG commitments.

EXAMPLE: Collaboration with NGO for supply chain transparency

Procurers, suppliers, and brands work with Electronics Watch (EW) in the IT sector to make electronics value chains more transparent by identifying production sites and high-risk factories. EW monitors these factories for compliance with labour and environmental standards and engages in dialogue with workers and communities to understand their concerns and perspectives.

EXAMPLE: Charting emissions hotspots with CHR Hansen's 2030 decarbonisation strategy

CHR Hansen has set Science Based Targets to guide their decarbonisation target towards 2030. Emissions across Scopes 1, 2, and 3 are mapped.¹³ And a dedicated CO2e measurement tool is used to calculate Scope 3 categories, like purchased goods and services and capital costs. This tool uses emission factors from established databases and supplier data where available. By mapping emissions to sourcing categories, the sourcing teams can locate emission hotspots and apply category and supplier-specific emissions reduction strategies.