sustainable sourcing
Responsible supply chains
Sustainable sourcing is the practice of obtaining materials or products in ways that minimize environmental harm and respect human welfare.
Companies emphasize sustainable sourcing to address concerns about deforestation, carbon emissions, and labor conditions in supply chains: The coffee brand touts its sustainable sourcing from fair-trade farms.
The term appears frequently in corporate responsibility statements, sometimes as genuine commitment, sometimes as marketing.
- fair tradeEquitable exchange between parties
- carbon footprintTotal greenhouse gases produced
- waste reductionDecreasing material for disposal
- transparencyState of being see-through
- renewable resourcesSupplies that naturally replenish
labor rights · worker safety · water conservation · community engagement · provenance · cruelty-free · cultural preservation · climate resilience · biodiversity · human rights · eco-friendly · circular economy · regenerative · energy efficiency · zero waste · fair trade practices · living wage · eco-friendly packaging
- environmentalismecology, conservationism, recycling bins, campaigner, environmentalism
- sustainabilityreduce, reuse, recycle, sustainable yield, recycling programs
- Ecodesignbiodegradable, biomimicry, circular economy, cradle-to-cradle, eco-friendly
- ethical shoppingfair trade coffee, ethical sourcing, ethical shopping, buy local, fair wages
- fur tradebeaver pelts, pelts, furs, mink, sable
- procurementprocurement, purchasing, purchase order, bidding, subcontract
sustainable sourcingresource depletion
Exhausting available materials gradually
strip mining · overfishing · clear-cutting · deforestation · environmental degradation
sustainable sourcingsweatshop labor
Exploitative factory work
child labor · conflict minerals · blood diamonds · worker exploitation · labor exploitation