IBM is committed to doing business with environmentally responsible suppliers.
In 2010, IBM established a requirement that all first-tier suppliers establish a management system to address their social and environmental responsibilities. Our objective in establishing this requirement was to help our suppliers build their own capability to succeed in this area.
Specifically, suppliers are required to do the following:
- Define, deploy, and sustain a management system that addresses corporate responsibility, including supplier conduct and environmental protection
- Measure performance and establish voluntary, quantifiable environmental goals
- Publicly disclose results associated with these voluntary environmental goals and other environmental aspects of their management systems
- Cascade this set of requirements to their supplier's suppliers who perform work that is material to the products, parts and/or services being supplied to IBM
The requirements referenced above are in addition to the company's previous requirements. In 2004, IBM published its Supplier Conduct Principles to articulate the company's overall supply chain social and environmental requirements. Effective March 2013, IBM is using the Electronic Industry Citizenship Coalition (EICC) Code of Conduct as the single code with our supply base. The EICC Code of Conduct supersedes the IBM Supplier Conduct Principles and establishes the minimum social responsibility standards we expect from suppliers as a condition of doing business with IBM.
As part of its own global environmental management system, IBM conducts environmental evaluations of a relevant subset of its suppliers, including all of its hazardous waste services suppliers, certain production-related suppliers and all of the company's product recycling and disposal suppliers. To address concerns about recycling in the extended supply chain, the company also evaluates certain subcontractors its suppliers may use to handle recycling or disposal operations.
While IBM continues to advance its own supply chain programs, the company strongly believes in the value of industry collaboration. As a founding member of the Electronic Industry Citizenship Coalition (EICC), IBM helped develop and launch the EICC Code of Conduct. IBM is also actively involved with two initiatives to analyze greenhouse gas emissions associated with its supply chain through its membership in the EICC and as a member of the Carbon Disclosure Project's (CDP) Supply Chain Project. These programs are encouraging environmental leadership in the supply chain.
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