Responsible Sourcing
Amplifying our positive impact with our suppliers
Sourcing responsibly demands sustained focus all along the supply chain. It means being transparent about who and where we source our ingredients and our services from.
Why does it matter? Ensuring sustainability secures the integrity of our supply chain now and for the future as well as livelihoods in the communities that underpin it. We actively seek to enhance the resilience of our suppliers by caring for people, respecting nature and acting on climate change – and by helping them to do the same.
We work closely with independent partners such as EcoVadis for direct and indirect suppliers and the Union for Ethical BioTrade (UEBT) for our suppliers of natural ingredients in addition to EcoVadis. These tools increase performance and risk management, well as transparency of data. They also support our suppliers and enhance responsible sourcing programs, policies and action in the field.
Responsible Sourcing Policy
Our Responsible Sourcing Policy sets out our expectations from direct and indirect suppliers and provides the foundation for collective action to make a positive impact. It focuses on six requirements:
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Acting with integrity, compliance and business ethics
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Respecting human rights, people, health & safety
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Respecting environment and biodiversity
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Ensuring highest standards of product safety and quality
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Ensuring business continuity
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Respecting confidential information
Our sourcing and risk management experts work with suppliers and partners to turn policy into best practice and build resilience. We embark on a continuous improvement journey. When it comes to natural ingredients, including palm oil and palm oil derivatives, we set rigorous standards for sustainability. We work closely with our natural raw materials suppliers to integrate respect for nature and people across our supply chain. We apply Ethical BioTrade and RSPO principles and continuously assess sustainability performance against our responsible sourcing policy.
Sourcing programs
Through our Naturals Together™ program, we unite producers from around the world to share best practice and help us imagine and implement a sustainable future for the next generation of farmers. We take a holistic approach, focusing on ways to strengthen local farming communities through social and environmental projects that support responsible sourcing.
Creating responsible fragrances and flavors
By sourcing ingredients more responsibly, we are creating more responsible products for our customers and their consumers. We are using innovative tools to help us do this, in design and production. Our corporate sustainability ambitions are integrated in all our eco-design projects. Our colleagues across the Firmenich group actively collaborate through formal and informal organizational set up, aligning on risks and opportunities and aligning on future ambitions and future investments. The corporate sustainability team supports our creation colleagues with inventing together the future of perfumery and the future of foods.
