Supply Chain Executives Prioritize Sustainable Transformation in 2025 – Report Highlights

Actionable recommendation: implement a 90-day plan to know exposure and map a number of risks across global chains, aiming for early savings and a journey that you can improve throughout the year. For organizations, this is a baseline to drive cross-functional collaboration and engagement from day one.

A governance model designed for cross-functional alignment sits under a director, keeping the journey tangible and engagement high across teams. It should focus on rapid development of end-to-end visibility and establish a track to move ideas from plan to working solutions throughout the organization.

Across organizations, leaders still measure improvement in cost, resilience, and service, with a look at motivators that are different by region. The approach synthesizes data from finance, operations, and IT and presents actionable insights to reduce risks and accelerate savings.

To sustain momentum, the global roadmap flexes with changing conditions and is designed to deliver continuous improvement across the value network. The plan focus on engagement, track progress, and ensure every stakeholder knows the journey and expected development across suppliers and chains.

Ultimately, the synthesis presents a concise view that presents day-to-day actions, the risks, and the levers that drive savings while improving customer outcomes. Organizations can continue this journey with steady focus and measurable impact throughout the network.

Supply Chain Leadership Insights

Recommendation: implement a 3-step governance framework that synthesizes information from across the organization to inform decision-making and align actions with the vision.

Establish a baseline and track costs, service levels, customers’ journey, and other key indicators, with targets such as a cost reduction of 8-12%, a 3-5 point gain in on-time delivery, and consistent service across channels.

Structure the leadership around a vice-president of analytics to oversee practices; focus on customers, services, and end-to-end processes; pursue development through cross-functional collaboration and tight governance.

Decision-making framework uses what-if analyses, scenario modeling, and data-driven trade-offs; found opportunities to optimize resilience and service design going beyond mere cost reduction and chasing efficiency targets; incorporate information from suppliers, partners, and internal teams to inform what matters most for the organization.

Implementation cadence: roll out a 3-step plan with a baseline, pilots in two functions, and scale across the organization within quarters; track progress with a transparent dashboard that links what matters to customer value and the journey from supplier to service experience.

Set concrete Scope 3 emissions targets for top suppliers

Take immediate action: set Scope 3 targets for the five most influential vendors, anchored to a clear baseline and a focused, end-to-end development plan.

Establish a formal engagement with those vendors, backed by a senior sponsor, to define shared practices, data sources, and a real-world roadmap that sits in your organization’s governance for the business. This focused collaboration reduces risk, shows progress, and accelerates many improvements across energy, logistics, and procurement going forward. They align with your climate goals.

Baselines must reflect data found across energy use, transport miles, and vendor invoices. Retrieved metrics from internal systems and external sources build a credible baseline, while research-backed methods map end-to-end activity and reveal the largest energy sinks. This working framework fuels those vendors’ development and aligns with your organization’s goals.

Five concrete actions drive momentum: codify target levels per vendor; require annual progress updates; share best practices; create joint development projects; track savings month by month. Local teams can contribute immediately, with cross-functional engagement ensuring action is practical and scalable.

Track performance with a simple end-to-end dashboard that reflects energy intensity, emissions per tier, and the effect of each vendor on total emissions. The organization will collect data retrieved in a consistent way, making it easy to compare across sources and to show a clear savings trajectory, increasing efficiency over time. These insights support better decisions and serve as motivators for senior leadership.

Create supplier sustainability scorecards and conduct regular audits

Establish a 3-step framework for supplier performance: define a concise set of sustainability questions aligned with business goals, implement a standardized scorecard with tangible KPIs, and schedule regular audits to look for gaps and drive change.

The program presents a clear path to assess risks across ethics, environment, and operations. Retrieve reliable data from supplier services and retrieved metrics to fuel board-ready dashboards. Directors should review results on a monthly cadence; regulators expect visibility into the journey and ongoing change, not one-off scores. Over years, this approach presents a repeatable method to close gaps and deliver savings.

Focus on what matters most to the business and what questions to ask. By tracking sustainability across supplier services, firms can realize savings through lower risks, fewer disruptions, and better contract terms. Nearly all firms seen improvements when audits are used to identify repeat issues, enabling targeted change and continuous learning.

Leadership must own the process; assign a vice president or director to oversee the 3-step routine and ensure cross-functional inputs.

To sustain momentum, retrieve updated data monthly, adapt the framework to regulators’ expectations, and iterate scoring criteria as goals shift. The focus is on creating a vision for better supplier collaboration and ongoing improvement across services, with clear metrics that a business can defend during negotiations.

Advance circularity through packaging redesign and material reuse

Recommendation: implement a 3-step program that treats packaging as a reuse-ready resource, starting with a baseline mapping and scaling to global loops across your operations.

using ernst research presents five case studies across organizations; they found that redesigning packaging to enable reuse reduces virgin content by 12–28% and increases consumer participation in return flows by 10–22%. across three focus regions throughout the world, respondents report higher reuse rates when packaging is easy to clean, label, separate, and compatible with local recovery streams.

Three core moves that drive competitive differentiation and offer different pathways across firms are:

• Baseline and design direction: inventory current packaging, identify mixed materials, and establish a baseline for reductions in virgin content that can be tracked from local to global levels; set targets that are measurable and time-bound within three months.
• Redesign for reuse and recovery: convert to mono-materials where possible, integrate closures, eliminate difficult labels, and ensure components are easy to separate and reassemble; pilot five SKUs to gather learnings and adjust.
• Scale, measure, and leverage partnerships: implement a closed-loop plan with retailers and suppliers, apply packaging IDs for return, and establish a common KPI suite that can be tracked across organizations and countries; use these data to leverage additional collaborations and drive change.

From respondents and firms involved, this approach has become a practical path that aligns with consumer expectations and the needs of local recyclers. By focusing on full lifecycle performance, companies can leverage packaging redesign for competitive advantage and create a global momentum that resonates with consumers.

Implement real-time ESG dashboards for tracking progress

Implement a real-time ESG dashboard hub that pulls data from supplier networks, ERP, and operations to track progress toward goals. Follow a 3-step plan: connect data sources, establish consistent definitions and data quality, and deploy role-based dashboards that deliver actionable insights to teams.

Across americas and global operations, align metrics with climate, water, energy, emissions, and governance to reveal where sustainable improvements occur and where urgency is highest. Establish an established data model that supports cross-site comparisons and improves supply resilience. This also strengthens the supply network and vendor collaboration.

According to said firms, they observe that different focus areas require tailored dashboards; engagement across functions rises when data shows cross-functional impact and savings. according to their analyses, the data from five sites confirms this trend.

3-step rollout details: Step 1 link data from supplier, production, and finance systems; Step 2 standardize definitions and quality checks; Step 3 enable alerts and role-based views for directors, managers, and operators.

источник contains the core inputs: supplier invoices, site meters, shipping data, and contract terms; establish clear provenance to support audits across states.

Director dashboards should show the state of sustainability programs, climate risk exposure, and savings realized; include state-by-state views, across lines of business, and automatic alerts when a metric deviates.

Call to actions: standardize nearly five core metrics, refresh data at least hourly, and empower a cross-functional team to act on insights. your teams will drive engagement, reduce risk, and accelerate progress toward sustainability goals.

Revise procurement to favor low-emission, high-potential suppliers

Adopt a 3-step process to identify and engage vendors with low emissions and strong growth trajectories, delivering savings and reducing operational risks.

Step 1 – screen and score: evaluate each candidate on emissions intensity, decarbonization plan, and end-to-end readiness; use a standardized scorecard combining site data and logistics footprint. Step 2 – pilot and validate: run controlled trials across full value flows to verify performance under real conditions. Step 3 – embed incentives: lock in long-term arrangements with KPIs tied to emissions reductions and on-time delivery, with credits or penalties aligned to progress.

According to ernst research, firms applying a data-backed vetting approach see improved efficiency and a lower total cost of ownership over 12–24 months. Those who pursue decarbonization targets in supplier terms report higher engagement and faster change adoption.

Going forward, managing end-to-end change requires focusing on a few high-potential partners before expanding. They should evaluate current emissions as well as the partner’s ability to scale improvements across sites, products, and networks. Consumers already expect transparent reporting and traceability, which reduces questions and builds trust across the value ecosystem.

Within the next year, companies should harmonize data feeds, refine risk matrices, and adjust agreements to reflect evolving capabilities and trajectories. The 3-step process contains governance checkpoints that keep budgets balanced and initiatives on track.

Category	Emissions (kg CO2e/unit)	Growth potential (%)	End-to-end readiness
Domestic, low-emission partner	0.8	18	85
Regional, transition plan vendor	2.4	12	60
Overseas, high-emission supplier	5.6	28	45
Strategic partner with decarbonization roadmap	1.3	22	78