A procurement tool for streamlined Input-Output sustainability Assessment

Abstract

Data collection for supply chain sustainability analysis is a difficult and time-intensive task. We have therefore developed an application-oriented tool for streamlining sustainability analysis in the supply chain. We take monetary purchase data as starting point and feed them into an environmentally extended multi-regional input-output model, based on WIOD, EORA and Exiobase, complemented by numerous other satellite accounts based on official statistics, e.g., by ILOSTAT, Eurostat or the OECD. The tool is able to differentiate by upstream tier and to allocate impacts to the countries and sectors where they arise. Thereby, we take 188 countries and 56 sectors into account. The tool can display different scenarios (e.g., years or suppliers) and present results in charts and maps, allowing to quickly identify hotspots in the supply chain. Out of the 152 indicators, 62 measure impact in monetized values and 90 measure output in physical values. We consider economic (e.g., contribution to the gross domestic product or job creation), environmental (e.g., greenhouse gas emission, waste, water consumption and pollution), and social (e.g., child labour or living wages) aspects. This results in both, footprints with negative effects and handprints with positive effects (e.g., employee training or job creation).