AI, Quantum and the Promise of Net Positive Supply Chains
Report｜2024-12-06
7 minute read
New technologies empowering advanced data management and modelling are the key to supply chain resilience, smarter use of resources, and environmental performance.
This article will provide a comprehensive overview of how data and technology are being used across supply chains and improving resilience.
*This content was originally published by Economist Impact and is published here under the permission.
Reducing supply-chain emissions is vital if the world is to meet its net-zero commitments. According to research by the World Economic Forum and Boston Consulting Group (BCG), just eight supply chains are responsible for 50% of global emissions, and scope 3 accounts for, on average, 75% of companies' emissions.
Unsurprisingly, supply-chain emissions are coming under increased scrutiny. Scope 3 reporting – which measures emissions throughout a company’s supply chain – is currently voluntary in much of the world. In July 2024, however, the EU’s Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive came into force, requiring EU and non-EU companies operating within the EU to conduct environmental and human rights due diligence across their operations and value chains.
Many companies are already going beyond the obligations laid down by regulation and are adopting a far-reaching “Net Positive” approach to supply chains, committing themselves to making a positive impact on the well-being of people and the planet that outweighs any negative impact.
Paul Polman, the former CEO of Unilever, has been a key champion of Net Positive thinking and action, and is the co-author of Net Positive: How Courageous Companies Thrive by Giving More Than They Take, published in 2021. Speaking in October 2024 at Economist Impact’s Countdown to COP29 event, Mr Polman laid out the key priorities for businesses with ambitions to become Net Positive.
“Take responsibility for your total impact in the world,” he said. “Run your business for multiple stakeholders. If you want to be around long-term, be sure that all your stakeholders are satisfied. These are the characteristics of Net Positive companies.”
Mr.Polman insisted that a commitment to becoming Net Positive will pay commercial dividends. “We can show that companies that operate this philosophy are seeing significantly higher returns, that the economic forces are increasingly driving you that way.”
Fujitsu has been an early adopter of that Net Positive vision. “As Fujitsu strives towards becoming Net Positive,” says Takashi Yamanishi, the company’s Corporate Executive Officer, EVP, CSSO (Chief Sustainability & Supply Chain Officer), “we seek to reduce the negative impact from our operations and we endeavour to contribute more back into society, communities and the environment.”
