
Map your indirect supplier network now and set a concrete 24-month action plan to cut difficult-to-reduce emissions across the entire value chain. today brands align behind this approach, sharing a common commitments framework to meet manufacturers and drive progress through action. The focus is on collaboration across suppliers at all tiers to identify high-impact practices and translate them into measurable results.
Guidance comes from Guidehouse as the orchestrator, with emma leading data sharing and assurance across the supplier network. The team builds a transparent hub to share supplier performance, track commitments, and ensure all brands meet the same risk, quality, and labor standards.
when contracts formalize practices, brands specify minimum requirements for environmental and social performance. The framework emphasizes praktyki that link supplier incentives to measurable outcomes, including quarterly reviews, annual audits, and targeted capacity building with manufacturers to close gaps.
To address the temat of supplier sustainability, the initiative will share data with regulators and peers, while protecting sensitive information. It sets a cadence to meet supplier teams, schedule on-site assessments for difficult-to-reduce areas, and scale up improvements across the entire supplier base. The program also tackles challenges like traceability, worker rights, and onboarding new manufacturers.
Action items for brands today include establishing a common supplier scorecard, aligning reporting to GRI and SASB frameworks, and deploying a pilot with 100 key manufacturers to validate the approach before expanding to the entire network. This plan targets indirect emissions reductions and stronger commitments, helping brands thrive in a competitive market.
Guidehouse, Mars, McCormick and PepsiCo: Practical Plan for Supplier Sustainability and Climate Coalition
Form a joint Climate Coalition Group among Guidehouse, Mars, McCormick and PepsiCo to cut footprints by half by 2030, covering indirect and direct spend and binding a shared goal and commitment across all brands.
Establish a focused governance group with quarterly performance reviews, a single data platform, and a simple scorecard that tracks emissions, energy use, waste, and supplier performance.
emma leads the data work, including footprints mapping across segments and brands, with information shared across the group to accelerate action.
Initiative includes baseline measurement of supplier footprints, setting a target to reduce footprints by half by 2030, and a defined order of actions: map, engage, implement, verify.
Engage markets with prioritized suppliers by footprint size; contracts embed targets and a tiered incentive structure tied to performance.
Use a shared dashboard to track progress; the information shown for the group and brands demonstrates reduction in footprints and cost savings.
Commitment built over years will care for workers and communities, and the coalition will extend to additional markets and brands as results prove meaningful.
Set Shared Sustainability Objectives and Expected Outcomes
Recommendation: set a joint objective to reducing indirect emissions across the supplier segment within three years, with quarterly milestones and a single source of truth for data across guidehouses, Mars, McCormick, and PepsiCo.
The plan centers on a commitment that engages leading organizations and helps guide the allocation of resources. guidehouses believe that leveraging knowledge from a diverse set of consulting teams will help align companys across the value chain and accelerate impact.
- Objectives and commitment: Define a joint target to reduce indirect emissions by 20% across the supplier segment by year 3, with early milestones in year 1 (5%), year 2 (12%), and year 3 (20%). Establish a clear scope that includes packaging, logistics, and energy use at suppliers; require quarterly progress updates from all companys in the segment.
- Governance and data: Form a cross‑company governance council with defined owners for each supplier segment; create a single источник for performance data and standardized definitions; mandate data sharing and verification to reduce indirect risk and improve decision speed.
- Engagement and capabilities: Develop supplier action plans per segment, supported by diverse resources and targeted training; deliver four knowledge-sharing sessions per quarter via consulting teams and internal experts; provide early, verifiable improvements such as 10% packaging weight reductions in top 20 suppliers.
- Metrics and expected outcomes: Track KPIs including CO2e per unit, total emissions reductions, waste diversion, recycled content in packaging, and energy intensity; publish quarterly progress on a shared, accessible dashboard; expect higher supplier participation rates and stronger visibility into performance across major companies.
- Risks and mitigations: Identify data quality gaps, supplier resistance, and coverage gaps; implement mitigations like data validation checks, phased roll‑outs, and contingency plans for critical suppliers; maintain transparency to sustain commitment and momentum.
These actions will generate a reliable источник of knowledge for decision-making and further align the efforts of diverse organizations with the goals of the sustainability program. By starting early with measurable wins, the four companies can accelerate improvement and demonstrate impact to their stakeholders.
Map Stakeholders and Define Roles Across Partners
Begin today with a concrete stakeholder map across Guidehouse (a consultancy firm), Mars, McCormick, PepsiCo, and their suppliers, plus regulators and NGOs. Focus on assigning responsibilities via a simple RACI framework, with the result that everyone knows who makes decisions, who executes tasks, who advises, and who stays informed. The coalition, launched last quarter and joined by all four partners, has been designed to drive supplier sustainability across the value chain.
Define roles by segment: leadership, program management, data and analytics, supplier engagement, and external communications. The steering committee should be chaired by a Mars director and co-led by a PepsiCo sustainability lead, with Guidehouse providing consultancy support. Create two working groups: electricity and energy efficiency, and supplier diversity and responsible practices. This structure yields clearer accountability and faster progress than ad hoc handoffs when scaling, and it offers a firm, repeatable cadence for decisions that scale across regions.
Map stakeholders into segments: internal cross-functional teams from each firm, primary suppliers, certification bodies, civil society, and regulators. For each segment, specify roles, touchpoints, and cadence. Calculate risk and impact scores for each segment and update monthly. Focus on half of the supplier base within six months, expanding to full coverage by the next quarter. Use these scores to prioritize actions by growth potential and resource needs.
Launch a living workflow: quarterly reviews, a shared data dashboard, and monthly switch priorities for electricity use, including switching to renewable electricity sources where feasible. Each partner commits to specific targets: Mars to reduce packaging emissions, PepsiCo to switch a portion of supplier electricity to green sources, McCormick to diversify supplier base, and Guidehouse to audit practices. The focus remains on diverse practices across regions and supplier tiers, with milestones and transparent results to guide leadership. please align on a common glossary to prevent misinterpretations, making this effort clearer and more actionable today.
Baseline Assessment: Data Needs, Practices, and Compliance Gaps
Please implement a centralized baseline within 90 days by establishing a data governance model that will provide a single source of truth for supplier sustainability data, with clear data owners and an auditable trail, led by a chief who coordinates procurement, sustainability, and IT teams.
Define data needs across supplier profiles, facilities, and products, including supplier name, location, setting, years of operation, spend, volumes, water use, energy intensity, emissions, waste, packaging materials, health and safety incidents, and signals in petcare categories. Link each data point to a measurable target and a source document to ensure traceability. Build an absolute baseline across all suppliers to benchmark progress.
Adopt uniform collection practices, including a standard questionnaire and automated feeds from supplier portals, third-party audits, and ERP extracts. Involve professionals from health, science, and operations to validate data, and align with a topic framework that covers human health, product safety, and environmental risk. Consider references from emma and beerens within partner networks to benchmark methods. Include the parkin topic when assessing petcare supply chains for animal welfare signals.
Identify compliance gaps by mapping current supplier codes of conduct, audit findings, and regulatory requirements, including CSRD, modern slavery acts, chemical safety rules, and animal welfare expectations. Produce a gap list with remediation owners, target dates, and the expected result, and track performance monthly.
Establish governance with cross-functional ownership: chief sustainability officer, procurement lead, legal counsel, and external auditors. Create a shared resource library with policies, training materials, and reference source documents, so organizations can answer common questions quickly. Share progress with internal teams and partner organizations, including Mars, McCormick, PepsiCo, and Guidehouse, to align expectations and scale solutions. Lessons from mars can inform scale.
Tech and data quality: implement a data quality dashboard, track completeness by year and by supplier, with a target above 95% by year end. Identify data points that are inherently difficult-to-reduce, such as water scarcity exposure and methane emissions in livestock supply chains, and plan supplier engagement programs to address them. Establish data lineage and secure access controls to protect sensitive information.
Next steps and metrics: deliver a baseline report within 4–6 weeks after launch, define four-quarter milestones, and tie improvements to performance metrics such as share of suppliers compliant with codes of conduct, reductions in water use, and incident rates. Provide resources to support suppliers with training and capacity building, including access to science-based guidelines and best practices from partner networks. The result will be a clear, auditable baseline that informs risk prioritization and action planning.
Joint Programs for Supplier Engagement: Training, Audits, and Reporting

Start with a centralized training platform for all tier-1 suppliers within 90 days, including onboarding and core modules on health, water stewardship, and ethical sourcing. Assign a dedicated director to drive execution and maintain a single source of truth for training and audit data.
Guidehouse announces a joint initiative with Mars, McCormick and PepsiCo to align supplier engagement across regions. The guidehouses framework coordinates the program across companies, actively linking training, audits, and reporting to measurable value and risk management. The initiative emphasizes early action, practical science-based guidance, and information that helps suppliers meet health, water, and sustainability targets.
Most suppliers will participate across critical categories, including food ingredients and packaging. This framework already accelerates capability building and reduces early-stage risk, delivering well-documented guidance and absolute expectations. The program connects suppliers to a transparent information flow and to a shared source of truth, enabling procurement teams to monitor progress, address challenges, and sustain well-being across value chains.
| Program area | What we do | Cadence/Targets | Właściciel |
|---|---|---|---|
| Szkolenie | Onboarding for all tier-1 suppliers; 60 hours core content; modules on health, water, and ethics | 100% trained within 90 days; quarterly refreshers | Director, Sustainability |
| Audyty | Risk-based, unannounced audits; 20% of suppliers audited annually; corrective action tracked | Annual cadence; 30-day remediation; 90-day close-out | Audit Lead |
| Raportowanie | Dashboard-based reporting; monthly data feed; external disclosures aligned with targets | Monthly operational; Quarterly public disclosures | Data & Reporting Lead |
Recommended Reading, News Sources, and Common Questions

Begin with the joint press release and the supplier sustainability framework launched by Guidehouse, Mars, McCormick, and PepsiCo, which clearly shows value for suppliers, a multi-billion-dollar commitment, and a global focus on renewables and emissions reductions. The document provides a broader view of the program, including governance, timelines, and measurable outcomes that apply to the entire supplier network.
Read the joint materials published by the four partners, including the sustainability report and the supplier code of conduct, to understand how the focus translates into actionable steps for teams within your firm and across markets.
Review the latest ESG disclosures from each company and any collaboration updates for target setting and performance indicators to gauge progress against industry-wide benchmarks and to spot where renewables sourcing and emissions reductions are advancing fastest.
For external validation, consult third-party benchmarks from CDP, the Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi), and WWF assessments, which help verify claims and provide a broader context for supplier programs.
News sources to follow include Reuters, Bloomberg Green, Financial Times, GreenBiz, and industry journals, which provide timely coverage on governance, supplier onboarding, and capital-market responses. This coverage helps you track how the program leverages partnerships to reduce risk and accelerate value creation across the supply chain.
Q: What is the core focus and how is progress measured? The core focus is to reduce emissions across the entire supply chain while accelerating the adoption of renewables and improving supplier performance; progress is measured through defined targets, governance milestones, and data-driven dashboards that enable actionable adjustments.
Q: How can a supplier participate and benefit? Suppliers engage by completing self-assessments, aligning with the code of conduct, implementing improvement plans, and reporting data; benefits include access to training, financing options, and potential inclusion in broader market programs.
Q: What timelines and commitments should stakeholders expect? Expect a multi-year plan with phased onboarding, annual reviews, and performance updates that tie to absolute metrics on emissions reductions and renewables usage, ensuring accountability within the entire network.
Q: How does this structure create value for the participating firms and markets? The framework enables risk reduction, strengthens supplier resilience, and unlocks efficiencies across markets while leveraging industry-wide standards to improve financial performance and expand sustainable sourcing opportunities.
Q: Where can I find practical resources and contact points? Use the partner portals and investor relations pages to access guidelines, training modules, and contact information; absolute clarity on data submission and governance helps maintain momentum over the coming years.