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SUPPLY CHAIN SUSTAINABILITY EFFORTS: DELAY IN PROGRESS AMID COVID-19
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BY VIPUL KUMAR
raditionally, for any large manufacturing organization, the supply chain accounts for 60–80% of greenhouse gas emissions (GHG). Since the Industrial Revolution, supply chains have largely been linear. Most companies and consumers typically use a product only once and then discard it as waste. However, amid rising environmental degradation, companies are increasing efforts to ensure sustainability of the supply chain. The objective is to set up environmentally friendly practices in order to address climate change and comply with government regulations. As companies work toward achieving the 17 key sustainability goals defined by the United Nations, they are aligning
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their long-term plans with three main objectives: building a circular economy (using recycled materials and packaging), ensuring traceability, and reducing the overall GHG emissions (including transportation-related). COVID-19 has hampered sustainability efforts across the globe, compelling companies to switch priorities. This is particularly visible in the case of two leading industries, fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) and healthcare, despite both witnessing substantial business growth amid the pandemic. FMCG Industry Impact of COVID-19: Increased focus on social aspects over sustainable packaging Over the last decade, FMCG companies have proactively committed themselves to decreasing the usage of single-use plastics and making packaging more sustainable. In line with this, they have redesigned packaging
systems based on recovery and reuse, thereby creating a new plastics circular economy (reduce -> reuse -> recycle -> recover). Key sustainable companies such as McCormick, Unilever, and Nestlé continue to generate clean revenues, deliver renewable energy projects, and target transition to 100% circular packaging. COVID-19, however, forced FMCG companies to change the focus from packaging sustainability to health and protection of people in the value chain (focusing on people aspect of the 3Ps: Profit, People, and Planet). Consequently, social commitment, including addressing inequality, drew more attention in terms of attracting investment and efforts. This has created a contradiction — consumption of single-use plastics rather increased as the pandemic spread. Moreover, efforts toward sustainable packaging took a hit amid limited