Sustainability of business chains at table in summit

ISTANBUL - Radikal

Istanbul will host its first summit to tackle the question of how to enable a sustainable supply chain, which has been an increasingly important issue in avoiding disasters like the Bangladesh factory collapse.

The first Sustainable Business Summit, which focuses on supply chain sustainability, starts today with the participation of decision-making representatives of top multinational companies and a number of local actors.

The summit is aimed at establishing a vision on the subject that concerns the environmental, risk, and waste costs of a company. It also displays how leading companies turn supply chain sustainability into a driver of competitive advantage by working together with their suppliers, organizers said.

With this in mind, the program of the summit has been designed to verify the necessity of imposing sustainability standards on every ring of the chain first and then reinforcing the idea with the tales of good examples. Local representatives of global giants like Coca-Cola, IKEA, Marks & Spencer, Mercedes-Benz, Unilever and BASF, which is also sponsoring the summit, are set to tell their stories. They will put forward the criteria and how to achieve their goals.

Along with the rise of sustainability’s acknowledgement in conducting business, the search for more comprehensive implementation of the idea has accelerated among global companies. Still, however, many companies are only measuring the sustainability of their own business operations and are unable to extend this evaluation to their suppliers.

Factory collapse in Bangladesh

In the wake of the Rana Plaza factory collapse in Bangladesh in April, the issue earned additional importance. A total of 1,127 people died in a collapse, making it one of the world’s deadliest industrial disasters. In the aftermath of the incident, Bangladeshi garment manufacturers and top retailers hailed an agreement to make the country’s factories safer, but there are still steps that need to be taken for further enhancement of labor standards in the country.

In Turkey, the maintenance of sustainability is more critical in achieving quality standards and reducing the businesses’ negative impact on environment.