Amanda Stone
What is Responsible Sourcing Strategies?
Creating and maintaining a responsible and resilient supply chain has become a key success factor for food and agriculture businesses in this ever-changing globalized world. Third-party verification of your responsible sourcing program provides transparency to your supply chain, manages potential risks and innovates to create positive environmental and social impacts. The verification reinforces that your suppliers grow or produce food using efficient, safe and ethical field or factory environments.
Why Choose SCS?
With more than 40 years of unparalleled experience in sustainability assessment and certification, our industry veterans bring deep expertise across diverse agricultural sectors. Our team specializes in critical areas including:
• Dairy and Animal Agriculture
• Coffee Production
• Cocoa Supply Chains
• Hazelnut Sourcing
• Rice Cultivation
• And more
Our global network of seasoned auditors and assessors delivers customized, innovative solutions tailored to your specific supply chain needs and business strategy. We go beyond standard verification, providing actionable insights that help companies advance sustainable practices and strengthen brand reputation.
- Basic Process
- Service Offerings
- Areas of Expertise
- SCS Expertise
- Program Documents
The process can vary depending on industry, product type, and company goals, but usually begins with SCS conducting a Needs Assessment to determine the level of engagement. This iterative process takes an in-depth look at current sourcing practices in order to define appropriate goals and steps forward. The final outcome is a comprehensive proposal with deliverables designed to meet the stated responsible sourcing objectives.
SCS supports your sustainable supply chain journey through comprehensive services:
- Risk analysis of supply chains
- Code of conduct development and review
- Evaluation of existing Responsible Sourcing policies
- Benchmark existing policies with industry standards
- Hot spot analysis to target supply chain priorities
- Chain of custody and traceability verifications
- On-site and remote data collection and audits
- Verifiers, inspectors, staff and supplier training
- Development of responsible sourcing guidelines and standards
SCS has analyzed production methods and conducted supply chain and chain-of-custody verification systems for a diverse array of raw material and consumer product sectors across the economy. Examples include:
- Agriculture: Food and Beverage, Biofuels, Bio-based Products, Horticultural Products
- Climate: Carbon Footprints, Carbon Offset Projects, GHG Management
- Electronics: Components
- Health and Wellness Products: Botanicals, Supplements, Cosmetics
- Forestry: Wood Products, Pulp and Paper Products, Packaging
- Green Building: Building and Construction Materials, Furniture, Adhesives and Coatings
- Industrial: Chemical inputs
- Life Cycle Assessment: Environmental Product Declarations, Comparative LCA
- Mining: Conflict Minerals, Precious Metals and Gems
- Seafood: Fisheries and Aquaculture
- Textiles: Apparel, Upholstery, Geotextiles
- Water: Water Footprint
- Developing and supporting customized responsible sourcing programs (For example, see Starbucks Ethical Sourcing)
- Works with you from start to finish, from consultation to implementation
- Global network of auditors
- Can work directly with all of your suppliers to clearly communicate your goals, and gather and validate evidence of conformance
- Goes beyond Tier One suppliers
- Works with single commodity supply chains and multiple products/inputs
- Works with software solutions provider to ensure proper data collection and reporting mechanisms are in place
- Collects the stories and data for marketing, CSR reports, or other stakeholder reporting needs
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Amanda Stone
Related Resources
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Case StudySustainable Sourcing in the Coffee Industry
Cooxupé, the world’s largest coffee cooperative, with over 18,000 members — more than 97% of whom are small producers…
