GovEVA is pleased to feature What On Earth!®, a cartoon series to mainstream sustainability, from the think tank Council on Energy, Environment and Water
(CEEW). This collaboration should, however, not be viewed as an endorsement of either organisation’s policies or views.
While some social issues are unequivocal, many others are qualitative, contextual, and their social impact changes over time. Recognising the nebulousness of social metrics, sustainability frameworks like the European Union’s CSDDD (Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive) require companies to conduct appropriate human rights and environmental due diligence of their own business, subsidiaries, business partners and their value chains, capturing both qualitative and quantitative information.
Sustainability & Organisations, Inclusive Economy Center at HEC Paris compared the social factors covered by 18 ESG frameworks. The research revealed only a limited agreement on which social factors to cover. Consequently, different frameworks can paint markedly different pictures of a company’s social performance.
A company’s social impact is instrumental to its long-term success. Meshing social imperatives with corporate goals necessitates a collaborative strategy; a sustainability strategy that is directive and supportive within the organisation, while encouraging collaboration with external players in the social ecosystem. We look at how Forbes Marshall, a private limited manufacturing MNC, has extended its social impact, by encouraging and supporting social change in its supply chain through their internal initiative named Parivartan, which means change.
No change comes without challenges. However the intention was to bring in change which benefits the wider ecosystem – shaping a shared future. After discussions, the team chose to evaluate and improve social practices in our supply chain, as that’s where we felt it would have the most social impact. This led to the pilot of Parivartan in 2020.
Parivartan includes personnel from various departments. It is led by a member who knows the supply chain, has a sustainability mindset and brings together internal and external players.
It began with healthcare as the primary focus. The pilot with 5 supply chain partners has grown to exceed 70 partners, and a tangible social impact on over 3500 lives. Once healthcare was streamlined and successfully expanded, we undertook new challenges. Now 80 vendors have enrolled in skilling for safety and productivity, and 55 in the future of work program.
The government’s under-utilised ESIC (Employees’ State Insurance Corporation) scheme has good potential. This potential needed to be communicated to vendors to encourage them to utilise the scheme, while simultaneously providing expertise and support to ease the process. The value of skilling was easier to communicate; less accidents, less wastage, and better productivity. Access to funds from the government’s MSME Skill Training and Employment Scheme increased vendor participation.
Being a founding member of Social Compact, an initiative by NGO Dasra to build resilience of informal workers, we experienced first-hand the benefits on ground. We saw merit in expanding this into our own supply chain. Our Worker Facilitation Centres, with support from NGO partners Aajeevika Bureau and Safe in India, help workers from vulnerable backgrounds apply for key government identification and entitlements, thus further enhancing the adoption by the supply chain.
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Increase in ESG reporting guidelines, initiated by governmental entities
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