its great when the sustainability angle and the business angle meet. the trouble is when they dont.
supply base, manufacterers, logistics providers, retailers, stores.





where can we do something to reduce waste within the supply chain?
How can we make it more efficient and what are the impact points?

"The change that impact everyone upstream will be more significant and effective"

Demand/consumer driven?

For example: taking barley out of beer will impact the fertilizer, the supplier in general, ie "product design."

Gary Gerrit- If the retailer demands that their suppliers provide products that are energy efficient and chemically safe, then the impact will travel through the supply chain.

We need energy at every level of the supply chain. Energy is everywhere.

Can we change this model? Can we cut out the middle man?

D. Mullen: It's happening. They're trying to bar-code the product from the farm and send it directly to the retailer.

WALMART

1. Renewable energy
2. Zero waste
3. Product design

Developing a system. Perhaps using a Walmart credit card to purchase a product and the savings make their way back into the system.

This is why we have this Unconference. To generate ideas and brainstorm together.

how do we get consumers to buy more energy efficient products. You need to buy a suite of products and commit to a system.
Are there other points of leverage in the value chain? we don't have good methodologies to influence change. Until you have all of the models throughout the chain, you need tools. Where are the impacts sticking out? Not necessarily where the leverage for change is. The farmer using pesticide doesn't really have the incentive, others don't have the leverage. It's about combining influence and incentive.

Across the big players, it can be accomplished with a business alliance. You aggregate the smaller players with roughly equal voices. Leverage and capital in different places. A model that can explain how to move capital from one part of the chain to another.

We need the technology to measure data and a platform to share this information. It will also be a competitive differentiators that will help consumers decide which retailers to choose. Collaborative and network-based competition is necessary, right now it's a real challenge.

The Western companies that have the knowledge share it, when they can, with their suppliers. Perhaps companies can form alliances like airlines. But who would initiate that? How do we influence our customer and consumers?

"The Sugar Cane Initiative" the "Palm Oil Initiative": political coalitions that can establish humanitarian standards. Why not environmental ones? Bring in competitors, work with NGOs and start the movement. The problem is that the ones that exist are heavy weights already. How does a mid-sized company participate in this kind of initiative? The "partnership" aspect is critical- a balanced, symbiotic relationship where one provides the service that the other cannot and vice versa. Also consider how you want to identify yourself as a company and how the partnership offers a counterpart to it.

Risk assessment.


We might solve the energy problem, but right after that- there's the research problem.