Global corporations join forces to make supply chains fairer and more sustainable
Telos, a new social enterprise launching today, is working with a group of high-profile companies to further increase the positive social and environmental impact of their supply chain activity by buying more goods and services from social economy businesses.
Building on the success of a pilot initiative by Social Enterprise UK, the Buy Social Europe initiative aims to see €5bn of procurement spend going to social economy businesses across the Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) region by 2030.
This will involve engaging at least 50 global companies to open up their supply chains to social economy businesses. AstraZeneca, CBRE, Johnson & Johnson, SAP, Siemens and Zurich Insurance Group will support the Buy Social Europe initiative in order to create opportunities for social economy businesses through their procurement.
With research showing two-thirds of a company’s ESG (environmental, social, governance) footprint lies within its supply chain**, this is more vital than ever.
Social economy businesses are businesses that are legally constituted to be ‘impact first’, creating jobs and opportunities for those furthest from the labour market and promoting sustainable economic development. There are an estimated 2.8 million social economy businesses across Europe – employing 13.6 million people and representing 8% of the EU’s GDP. By buying more from them, companies can ensure their procurement spend is invested into generating positive social and environmental outcomes.
The Buy Social Europe initiative is now run by Telos, a new social enterprise with a mission to support global corporations to drive social, economic and environmental value through core business activity. Telos will make the business case for supply chains as a key driver of positive corporate impact and stimulate the growth of ‘corporate social procurement’ – the process of companies proactively selecting social economy businesses as suppliers to drive a positive social impact.
The six companies engaged in Buy Social Europe have experience of trading with social economy suppliers I the UK through participation in the pioneering Buy Social Corporate Challenge initiative. Since the Buy Social Corporate Challenge launched in 2016, its corporate partners have collectively spent more than €400m with social economy organisations in the UK.
Telos aims to bring together at least 50 global corporations from a range of industries with the goal of collectively achieving a total of €5 billion procurement spend with social economy organisations by 2030. It is estimated according to Telos research that this level of investment will create 40,000 jobs, providing a significant boost to Europe’s growing social economy.
Commenting on the launch of Telos, Amy Brogan, ESG global executive director at CBRE, said: “Partnering with social enterprises helps with engaging our people to drive our purpose-driven business approach. We started in the UK and we’ve seen great success and benefits, and we’re excited to replicate this across EMEA to raise awareness and show the true value to our clients and people.”
Timo Worrall, director global supplier diversity and Inclusion at Johnson & Johnson commented, “Partnering with Social Enterprises doing good in our communities aligns our values and accelerates our commitment to supplier diversity in Europe. Building a community of like-minded companies through working with organizations like Telos also helps us to discover, certify and match social enterprises to our business needs and is critical to driving positive social impact through our procurement.”
Marta Celdrán, head of SCM West Europe & Africa at Siemens, said: “At Siemens we are advocates of sustainable and socially responsible business practices, hence as one of the heads of Siemens Supply Chain Management organization in Europe, I totally support the Telos vision of achieving positive social and environmental impact through our supply chain activities.”
Linda Freiner, group head of sustainability at Zurich Insurance Group, said: “As a member of Buy Social Europe, we proudly support social enterprises that drive positive change and help to build a fairer society.”
Telos is inviting forward-thinking companies to sign up to the initiative and unlock the potential for positive social and environmental impact within their supply chains.
