global mission A GREEN

Supported by CSR Europe, the Drive Sustainability partnership promotes environmental concerns all through the automotive supply chain. Member companies adopt a common approach to these issues and integrate sustainability into their procurement procedures.

The Drive Sustainability partnership is an association of automotive manufacturers. Membership com prises BMW Group, Daimler AG, Fiat Chrysler Automobiles, Ford, Honda, Jaguar

Land Rover, Scania CV AB, Toyota Motor Europe, Volkswagen Group and Volvo Group. The recent addition of the Chinese multinational Geely Holding Group makes a dozen companies.

These 12 manufacturers understand the necessity that the workers building their vehicles, components or delivering supporting services are granted decent working conditions: a workforce should be treated with dignity and respect. These principles run alongside schemes to limit the environmental impact of the automotive industry and promote integrity within the business.

Drive Sustainability is a continuation of work conducted by The European Automotive Working Group on Supply Chain Sustainability. This group began in 2012 as a project to develop and promote sustainability within the automotive supply chain.

Winds of change

The vision of the partnership is to lead the transformation of the automotive sector towards a value chain that is both circular and sustainable. Member companies seek excellence, innovation and performance within a sustainable framework. Furthermore, it is clear to members that workers and the environment are the most important resources in the automotive industry.

The unified mission is to drive sustainability in the automotive sector by adopting a single voice on these issues. The intent is to engage with suppliers and stakeholders within the automotive and associated sectors to further push the industry to address sustainability issues.

This single voice within the automotive industry is devoted to expressing the common direction of the partnership. The member companies hold a unified position committed to achieving a sustainable supply chain. This change is driven by the development of common activities and tools that impact the supply chain.

Membership of the programme supports the unified approach by companies for promoting the sustainability of the automotive supply chain.

Through encouragement, promotion and working together, the Drive Sustainability partners have adopted a common approach and process on supply chain sustainability throughout the industry. The overall goal is to embed sustainability into the procurement process of every company within the industry.

The chain

The establishment of sustainable supply chains will enable Drive Sustainability to reach its long-term ambitions. Impact on the automotive supply sector will be achieved through close collaboration with existing suppliers to implement the actions necessary to reach the group’s sustainability targets.

Drive Sustainability’s road to its goals is impacted by the inherently complex structure of the automotive supply chain, notably the interwoven relationships within the sector. However, these companies are embedded within this structure, so the group has planned its strategic actions to accommodate the existing supply network.

The action plan to deliver sustainable supply chains has four areas of focus. Firstly, there is the need for sustainable raw materials, including the promotion of standardised tools to manage procurement. Longer-term, this aspect will also achieve an audit of minerals and deliver transparency of origin for materials.

Additionally, the programme aims to deliver workforce wellbeing with common standards to tackle issues affecting workers. Drive Sustainability is promoting carbon neutrality throughout the supply chain, looking ahead to establishing common measurement tools. Finally, the group wants to oversee the creation of a circular value chain.

This strategy is already being implemented. Drive Sustainability is currently engaged with over 19,000 suppliers in more than 100 countries. At least 1,600 suppliers are now involved in capacity-building activities and 20 materials have already been assessed for their importance and associated ESG risks.

One vision

The work of Drive Sustainability is guided by three underlying principles. These begin with a focused effort to build stakeholder engagement with the project. While the group represents major manufacturers, the transformation of the automotive supply chain can only be achieved through a partnership with the entire sector.

Secondly, the participants enjoy a shared belief in the benefits to the industry of heightened transparency, through greater communication within the sector. Both stakeholders and partners are expected to share the sustainability information required to deliver the group’s collaborative solutions.

Finally, the Drive Sustainability group plans to adopt existing best practices and make good use of the existing tools for delivering sustainability throughout every stage of the extensive automotive supply chain network.

Matter Of Fact

Interesting and unusual sustainability facts from around the automotive world