Companies from all sectors of the economy are increasingly committing to put Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) criteria in the core of their decision-making process. Environmental criteria relates to how the company performs in respect to the planet and nature. Examples include: company energy source and usage, waste management, pollution, and natural resource treatments. Social criteria considers the company’s relationship with its employees, suppliers, customers and the communities that it belongs to. Examples include ESG based supplier assessments, volunteer work like training in poor communities, employee growth, health and safety, and equality at workplace. Governance factors relate to company leadership and their pay, internal controls and audits, and transparency [1].
The advantages of commitment to ESG goals are numerous for companies. It helps companies attract and retain the best talents, strengthen their brand image, overcome competitive challenges, and attract value-based investors [2]. The ESG landscape is constantly evolving due to increasing awareness and expectations of customers, investors and other stakeholders, as well as standards and government policies. New businesses, including consulting services and software platforms, are growing with the goal of helping companies stay on top of these changes and make smart ESG-driven decisions [3].
A sustainable supply chain is one of the most important ESG criteria that companies focus on. Companies are continuously improving the management and performance of their supply chains. This is done by identifying environmental, social, and governance measures and creating supplier assessment scorecards. These scorecards help different departments within the company (including procurement, customer relationship, marketing, and financial) to collaboratively make smart ESG driven decisions regarding their suppliers. It also allows suppliers to actively be engaged in the process and continuously improve their environmental, social, and governance practices which can result in a more secure relationship with their customers and an improved reputation and image.
What Commitment to the ESG Criteria Means to the BioPowder.com Team
We at BioPowder.com pride ourselves on continuous improvement with regard to sustainability. This refers to all stages throughout our own supply chain, manufacturing, packaging, and delivery. Our powders are made from agricultural by-products which neither require plantations nor competition with the food chain. Our manufacturing is resource-saving and does not generate any waste. Our mechanical production process does not involve fossil fuel or excessive quantities of drinking water. All our raw materials currently come from the European Union so there are no long transports required. As we grow, our strategy is to build manufacturing sites close to agricultural centers in the US and Asia to access raw material and serve our customers locally.
Apart from the technical necessities, our team has made a powerful commitment to social sustainability. In simple terms, we nurture human connections, both locally and internationally. Thanks to our founders’ long-standing experience in the olive industry, we count on lasting collaborations with olive oil mills as the sources of our raw materials. On the commercial side, we favor collaborations with customers and partners who share our vision.
More specifically, we abide by the following principles:
- Regional sourcing: for reasons of resource-efficiency and reduction of CO2 emissions, all our raw materials come from within a radius of 300km. Carefully selected fruit processors are our long-term partners with whom we created a genuine win-win situation. We offer effective recycling in exchange for continuously excellent raw material quality and logistics.
- Accountability and partnership over cost: we take our supplier relationships seriously and flexibly adjust to the seasonal nature of the by-products. Our goal is to avoid imports while maintaining the highest standards of fair trade.
- Conscious choice of accessories and materials: wherever possible, we prefer recycled over primary materials. This refers to parts and components as well as to our packaging policy. We use a minimum of plastic packaging, re-use pallets and work with selected local suppliers with a high ESG score.
- Workplace health and safety: we invest in our team by ensuring a safe and convenient manufacturing environment. This includes state-of-the art ventilation systems for dust control, strict maintenance schedules, flexible shifts and bonus schemes to attract and maintain talent.
- Equal opportunities, diversity and respect: our team is composed of people from 8 different countries, brought together by our mission to make a difference. We truly embrace diverse backgrounds, appreciate diverse lifestyles and choices, and experiment with new ways of working.
We invite you to contact us so we can discuss how we can help your company reduce its use of and dependency on non-renewable, fossil-fuel or mineral based material or even raw biomaterials that compete with the food chain. We strongly believe that each new customer relationship offers us a great opportunity to learn, innovate, and improve. So whatever your ESG goals are, consider us your partner in reaching them. For more information, please contact us!
