Dive Brief:

• HP's latest sustainability goal is the 10% reduction of first-tier supplier GHG emissions by 2025 as compared with 2015 emissions levels, CSR reported Wednesday.
• It also seeks to double factory participation in supply chain sustainability programs by 2025, again compared with 2015 numbers, to increase not only the number of suppliers involved in its programs but also the scope of their engagement. HP intends to improve the condition of 500,000 of its suppliers' factory workers by 2025, with a focus on women, migrant workers, and students. 
• The company's main focus will be on engaging its supply chain to help minimize GHG intensity through careful management and transparency requirements, along with predetermined operations goals and improved collaboration. 

Dive Insight:

A powerful company provides a strong incentive for its supply chain to comply with sustainability demands or better health policies for workers, even when the policies in question are of benefit to those participating. Goal setting and timelines also serve to make initiatives actionable. 

Target, for example, announced its commitment earlier this year​ to eschew hazardous chemicals in its health and beauty products by 2020. Though demanding ingredient compliance will put more pressure on its supply chain, the financial payoff of selling to Target will likely be enough to bring many producers into line.

Other companies are taking a different route to ensure compliance and advocate for change, such as the World Cocoa Foundation (WCF), which includes well-known brands Mars, Hershey and Nestle. The WCF is actively working to halt further incursions into existing forests made by desperate farmers in Ghana and the Côte d'Ivoire. To preserve the forests, the WCF has teamed with the African Development Bank for farmer financing opportunities. It's also partnering with the governments active in cocoa-producing regions in order to promote crop diversification, which will improve the health of the land and allow the forest to reclaim its previous expanse. It may also provide a better source of income for local farmers.

Finally, there's Apple, which has long had success with sustainability in China. Now the technology leader is moving on to U.S. suppliers with Jabil Circuit, Inc., which has pledged to use only 100% renewable energy by the end of 2018, ultimately saving roughly one billion kilowatt hours.