Asda and Co-op retailers launched joint initiative to track sustainability in their supply chains

Asda and the Co-op will collaborate to align the sustainability data from their mutual suppliers to sparkle efficiency in the sustainability monitoring of their supply chains.  

The two companies will use 2degrees, a collaboration platform that facilitates businesses to deliver sustainability targets, promising significant time savings for suppliers to submit their data.

Common suppliers will be able to submit their data on waste, water and energy once, indicating that their combined data should be shared with both customers.

David McDiarmid, Corporate Relations Director at Princes Ltd, a supplier to both Asda and the Co-op, said: “It’s great that two retailers like Co-op and Asda have embraced this approach. With all our manufacturing locations sharing their data between these customers we have cut down duplicated effort, saving time and making the entire process a lot more efficient.”

“I hope other retailers will see the benefits of such a collaborative approach and consider it for their suppliers environmental reporting”.

The Co-op is one of the founding partners of multi-client Manufacture 2030, a global platform which brings together retailers, brands and manufacturing suppliers to explore value creation opportunities through incorporating sustainability in supply chains.

Sarah Wakefield, food sustainability manager at the Co-op, added: “The Co-op is committed to a better way of doing business and we believe that collaborating on data collections means our suppliers can focus on what matters most – making great quality products with the lowest environmental impact possible”.

She also underlined the importance of the initiative on building long-term trust relationships with the suppliers.  

Asda launched its Sustain & Save Exchange initiative, - a private online platform for its suppliers, and has since identified €101-126 million in cost savings as well as sizable resource efficiency opportunities.

The initiative focuses on cutting costs and on improving resource efficiency in energy, waste and water by setting standards in terms of sustainability.

Laura Babbs, Sustainability Manager at Asda said: “We have worked with 2degrees and the supplier advisory board to make the request as simple as possible for suppliers”.

“We appreciate that smaller businesses may not have the resources, so providing this reporting function and enabling them to share data will save them time and put their efforts into other critical areas.”

The ultimate goal is for suppliers to ‘future-proof’ their businesses and enabling suppliers to become more climate resilient.